


Mischievous Inventions

by The_Firebird



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Because I am not a psychologist either JARVIS, Bullies, Canon-Typical Violence, Child Abuse, Childhood Friends, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Hurt/Comfort, Inaccurate Mental Diagnosis, Kid Tony, M/M, More tags to be added, Obie is kinda a dick, Parental Anna and Edwin Jarvis, Protective Loki, Slow Burn, Suicidal Thoughts- MENTIONED~kinda, Tony Stark Gets a Hug, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, tiny tony, yet - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-02
Updated: 2018-06-23
Packaged: 2018-12-10 03:36:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 24,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11683194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Firebird/pseuds/The_Firebird
Summary: Tony meets Loki when he’s a little kid. The god saved him countless times from Howard. After years of trust being built up, Loki disappears, then returns with an army.





	1. Bad Influence (Pink)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [STARSdidathing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/STARSdidathing/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Meant to Be Mine](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4527336) by [usedupshiver](https://archiveofourown.org/users/usedupshiver/pseuds/usedupshiver). 



> So this is my second work in the fandom. The other chapters will be longer, with a 2000 word minimum, but this one was so hard to write so I just left it where I thought it was good rather than ruining it. I really hope you guys like it!

Tony, at the age of four, knew the perfect times to sneak into his father’s workshop. Howard was gone to Stark Industries from ten to four, came home for dinner and tinkered in his workshop until nine, then went to his office to get drunk until he passed out a couple hours later.

 

One would think that as long as Howard was there, he could go in and watch him work or tinker on things for himself.

 

No. 

 

Others might think that maybe if Howard  _ wasn’t  _ home he could go in the workshop.

 

_ Definitely no. _

 

Tony had to wait until everyone else was asleep, way after his seven o’clock bedtime, and sneak in then. He could stay in the workshop until seven, a full six hours of learning. He had to wait until Howard wouldn’t be coming in for a while, because he would kick him out just on the basis of not wanting to see his son. And their butler, Jarvis, would never let him go in there, deeming it too dangerous for a four year old.

 

So he set his alarm clock to wake him up at one in the morning, then he would venture down, so long as nobody else was awake.

 

Granted, with the limited motor skills he had at that age, all he could do was get some of the smaller books he could reach and read up on whatever he could, eidetic memory cataloging everything for the next couple hours when he would try to replicate what he read.

 

It was during one of these adventures that he first met Loki. 

 

Still four years old, though his birthday was drawing near, Tony woke up in the small hours of the morning, and he was fairly confident in his skills that he would be able finally be able to finish the circuit board he’d been working on. 

 

What he didn’t expect, was to find someone else in the workshop when he got there. He hid behind the door, thinking it was Howard, but another glance revealed a completely different body type, Tony’s dad was shorter and bulkier. This man was tall and thin, more of a runner's body.

 

Cautiously, Tony stepped forward. “You’re not supposed to be here.” He told the mystery man. As soon as he spoke, he knew it was a mistake. Huge, bellowing footsteps came stomping towards him. 

 

Even though it was a stranger, and a grown man, Tony knew how impatient Howard could get with his own son, and he wouldn’t wish that upon a stranger, so he quickly whispered ‘hide’ to the man and turned around as his father rounded the corner. 

 

“What do you think you’re doing in here?”

 

As much as he didn’t want to answer, the four year old knew he’d get yelled at more if he didn’t. “I was-”

 

“I don’t want to hear it! All you’re going to do in here is mess up my work, you no good piece of shit.”

 

Tony only gasped as he felt a bottle being broken on his head. He had been patching himself up for a while, not wanting to bother Jarvis because of Howard. He already had to deal with so much while he was awake, why make him deal with a drunken Howard too?

 

“Get your ass in bed while you still have one!”

 

“But I-”

 

“Good God! You don’t listen to anything do you!?” With that, his father started pulling him by the ear towards his bedroom. He pushed Tony in there and locked the door from the outside. 

 

The four-year-old sighed. He wouldn’t be able to leave until Jarvis woke up in a few hours, and he wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep tonight. Tony made his way to the bathroom attached to his room, climbing on the stool and taking out the gloves he had taken from the doctor’s office so he didn’t cut his fingers taking out the glass. 

 

Tony flinched as he heard his bedroom door open again, sneaking a peak to see if he would have to hide or not. He didn’t, it was just the mystery man from the workshop.

 

“What are you doing here? You gotta go before mom and Jarvis wake up!”

 

“I have questions.”

 

“Dad says not all questions need answers, especially mine.”

 

“How do you learn if you don’t ask questions?”

 

“You keep your mouth shut and find out later.”

  
  


“Do you believe that?”

 

“Well, that’s what dad says, but Jarvis always answers my questions. He says that as long as I want to learn, there will always be new information and new teachers ready for me.”

 

“Yes, I believe I like this Jarvis better than your father.”

 

“Me too…..so what questions do you have?” Tony asked, looking back to the mirror to get the glass out of his hair.

 

“First, what’s your name?”

 

“I’m Anthony Stark, but people usually just call me Tony.”

 

“Well, Anthony, my name is Loki. Say…..do you need help?”

 

“I’ve done this before, I get out all the big pieces before washing out the little ones. I usually get all of them that way, but sometimes Jarvis finds more in the morning.”

 

“Sit on the counter, let me help.”

 

“Why? I don’t know you.”

 

“Because you told me to hide when your father came, you helped me out, and now I’m going to help you. Because this was a product of me being there in the first place.”

 

“Fine.” Tony said as he hopped on the counter. “So, why are you here?”

 

“I got lost. I didn’t mean to show up, but I’m glad to be able to do this for you.”

 

“So you weren’t here to steal from us?”

 

“What? No!”

 

“And you’re not lying to me?”

 

“Anthony. I will promise you that I will never lie to you.”

 

“You know….you’re nice. Nobody but Jarvis does this, not even mom.”

 

“So what were you doing downstairs?”

 

“I’ve been going to the workshop at night so I can read and work on some projects. I was going to finish my first circuit board tonight, but that can wait until tomorrow.”

 

“Aren’t you a bit young to be building?”

 

“That’s what Jarvis says. Mom doesn’t want me building at all yet, but Jarvis will let be use screws and wood, just as long as I don’t use blades or anything he considers unsafe. He’ll let me use more as I grow, he says. I used to not even be able to touch the wires, but for my birthday he let me take apart and put back together a computer. It wasn’t plugged in, though.”

 

“How old are you?”

 

“I’m four, but I’m already in second grade. People call me a genius, because most kids my age are still trying to eat things they find on the ground.”

 

“I suppose you’ve told me enough about yourself, huh?” Loki said as he started parting hairs to get the smaller pieces of glass. “Well, I’m not from here, but you have definitely caught my attention.”

 

“Are you going to leave?” Tony asked, really liking his new friend and wanting to stay with him more, he was the only one that was taking care of him without being on his father’s payroll, and even though he loved Jarvis, it still wasn’t the same as knowing someone was there because they wanted to be.

 

Loki finished picking out all the glass, using a sweep of magic to heal the cuts and remove the even smaller pieces that were invisible to the naked eye. “I’m afraid I have to, but you are very interesting, and I will be back. And soon, but I have matters to take care of.” He pulled out a pendant from his pocket. “Keep this. If you ever need me, just call out to me and I will come as soon as I am able. Alright?” 

 

“How does it work?” Tony asked, feeling the metal. It was about as big and heavy as a half dollar, on a chain that, at the smallest it could go, went to the middle of his chest.

 

“I shall explain that next time, Anthony. Until then, stay safe.” With that, Loki left the human child there with a curious look on his face. He himself wondered why he felt so curious about the boy.

 

* * *

 

It was true that he was intrigued when he first saw the child, and how he reacted to seeing a stranger in his house. But he didn’t scream, nor did he go to get his parents like other children would’ve, he just told Loki that he shouldn’t be there, then protected him as his behemoth of a father came from down the hall to abuse his son. 

 

When he saw Anthony’s father break the bottle on the four-year-old’s head, it made him as angry as it made him sad when the boy didn’t give so much as a whimper to an injury that would have others his age bawling. Just the small gasp of pain spoke to how many times it had happened before. 

 

Loki didn’t know what was worse, how Anthony handled the bottle being broken, or the way he sighed and started a routine as soon as he was alone in his room, like it was a normal thing.

 

It was true that Odin had never been the best father to his second son, though he had never been so blatant about his mistreatment. Frigga would never allow such a thing. But it seemed that the only one this child had couldn’t stand up to Anthony’s abuser out of fear of being taken away and leaving the child nobody. 

 

Loki didn’t know why he showed himself in Anthony’s room, nor why he had offered to help pull piece by piece of glass out of the boy’s hair. He didn’t know why he had promised never to lie or that he would return. He just knew that he had to keep these promises, that the little boy would be crushed if he didn’t, that he would come to care for little Anthony Stark, not because he had to, but because he wanted to.

 

Because little Anthony Stark was much like little Loki. 


	2. Family Portrait (Pink)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I made a tiny change to the last chapter, it's really small but it spoke a lot to Maria's character. Where it said "That’s what Mom and Jarvis say." I made it "That’s what Jarvis says." for reasons. I was writing this chapter and wanted to change the dynamic of Tony's relationships. 
> 
> Let me say IT'S REALLY HARD TO WRITE AN ADULT BEING FRIENDS WITH A KID AND MAKING IT NOT CREEPY!
> 
> I promised a chapter soon, and you guys are SOOO responsive, it just made me want to write a whole bunch.

 

Loki returned many times over the years. He would only be able to stay for a few hours, then went to Asgard for his princely duties, then teleported to Midgard whenever he could have the day off. 

 

Little Anthony didn’t use the pendant much. Loki suspected that his father was doing similar acts to the one he witnessed on a regular basis, but that the child didn’t think it was incident enough to call. 

 

He had finished that circuit board, and taught the mage about Midgardian technology. Anthony had become one of the few joys in Loki’s life; most children were only interested in destroying and having fun, but the youngest Stark was always learning and creating, and having fun while doing it. 

 

It seemed Loki had earned the boy’s trust quickly, and he was glad he did, as he watched trust come harder and harder for Anthony through the years. With his father and lack of friends his own age, he only had three people he could truly trust in his life, Loki learned. 

 

It was on the third visit the mage learned why his mother wasn’t included in the circle. 

 

While Maria was considerably better than Howard, not only did she never stick up for her son, but she watched it happen then sent her son away when he sought comfort. Edwin Jarvis, the family butler, and his wife, Anna Jarvis, the head maid, were the other two people included in this circle. They slept in a small guest house off of the mansion, but they both worked for the Starks, and made sure Anthony was taken care of. 

 

They had essentially raised him. Anna made him sweets from time to time and made sure he went to bed on time, though she didn’t know about his nighttime tinkering, she spent all the time she could with him, even watching movies with hot chocolate with him after having to go to a press conference where he had to be in a suit and act like the adults around him, though she didn’t get to do all she wanted for him without forfeiting her job in the process. 

 

Edwin Jarvis was an amazing man, whom Loki had been told many a story from Anthony. He had a considerably smaller workload than his wife, his tasks were mainly to take care of Tony and direct the other staff, and since the staff knew what they were doing most of the time, he spent most of his energy on the boy.

 

If there were ever good examples for little Anthony, Edwin and Anna Jarvis were the best. 

 

Loki also learned about the boy’s love for nicknames. He called Edwin variations of his last name- mostly Jarv, J, or just Jarvis. Anna was named after a pretzel shop, Auntie Anne’s, both because of her cooking skills and the name similarities. Loki himself got two, as such he was rarely ever called by his full name. Anthony instead used Lo’ or Lokes, though the mage thought that was because of his own stubbornness about not shortening the boy’s name. 

 

Loki had met Jarvis early on. He had visited Anthony a few times after the first incident, usually helping him out with bouts from Howard if he could. But this time was the first time the six-year-old had called to him. His name had been spoken before, but those were just of the child talking  _ about  _ him, not calling to him. This had seemed much more urgent, something serious going on with the boy he had come to appreciate, for his company and his intelligence. 

 

He had learned that little Anthony could take a lot from his father, what with how common it was and how nobody could stand up for him. Maria just plainly didn’t want to, Jarvis and Anna could lose their jobs, and if Loki did it then Howard could look into some old runes to keep him out for good, as well as be worse to his son. 

 

This made it all the more worrying when the boy reached out to him. 

 

Loki had been in Asgard, almost pulling his hair out at the prospect of having to sit at dinner with Odin, Thor, Sif and the Warriors Three. The only person that made it slightly bearable was his mother, sitting next to him and having a quieter conversation when their attention wasn’t being pulled away by the others. 

 

“I hear you’ve taken some books on blacksmithing to your room, are you interested in the art?” Frigga had just said when he got the call. 

 

_ Loki….Loki I need help. Please, I need help. _ His voice was barely more than a whimper in the mage’s head.

 

His mother immediately recognized the look of a fellow magic user receiving a message. An important one. 

 

She stood up much more gracefully than Loki did. “Please excuse us from dinner, but my son and I have some urgent matters to attend to.” She stated calmly, much more calmly than her son would have spoken. In the hall, just outside the dining room, Frigga kissed him on the cheek and said, “Go, tell me later.”

 

He nodded and disappeared. 

 

\--

 

The sight before him when he arrived at Anthony’s manor was nothing short of horrifying. Strong as the boy was, he would have permanent emotional and physical scars from this. 

 

Howard, Loki hadn’t called the man Anthony’s father since he learned the man’s name, Howard had apparently found his son in the workshop again, but instead of breaking a bottle over the boy’s head -which, while horrible, was mild compared to this-, he had put our cigars on Anthony’s back and beat him with his belt. 

 

Howard wasn’t awake to do it again, and Loki was debating on whether or not to wake him up at all. 

 

Tony, being only six, was still light, especially to the god. As such, Loki bent down to pick him up, cradling the boy to his chest and healing what he could, but not without leaving scars. 

 

Anthony buried his face in his protector’s neck, sniffling and sobbing. Eventually, though, he lifted his head up enough to ask a one word question. “Jarvis?”

 

“Yeah. Yeah, I’ll take you to Jarvis.” Loki whispered into the boy’s hair, kissing the top of his head, like he could remember his mother doing when he was little. 

 

He walked out of the room, down the hall into the kitchen, where he could hear the sobs of Anna and see the silent tears of Edwin. Loki cleared his throat, drawing all the attention in the room to him, then to Anthony. 

 

Even though the mage was a stranger to the Jarvis’, the boy in his arms were their primary concern. Anna pulled the smallest Stark from his grasp, something he was slightly bothered by, though she had every right to do it. 

 

“Be cautious about his back, níðingr did a number on him.” Edwin shot him a confused glance, and finally took him in. 

 

“Who are you and how did you get here?”

 

“As much as I would love to have this conversation, can we please tend to Anthony? Vile creature doesn’t deserve a son like him.” This seemed to get Edwin’s attention back on the boy, though not for long, for the very thing they were focussing their attention looked back to him. 

 

“You’re not leaving, are you, Loki?” The adults holding him sharing a look, confused….yet like a realization had dawned on them. Loki looked back at Anthony.

 

“I cannot stay forever, little one, though I won’t leave until you’re asleep.”

 

Anna wiped the tears off her face, then brought the boy -and therefore his crowd- to the den. “Why don’t we watch a movie before heading to bed?” Anthony nodded, though he knew what they were doing, and went along with it. 

 

“Can we watch Valhalla?”

 

“Of course, Tony.” Anna said as her husband went to get the VHS

 

“I didn’t know you were interested in mythology.”

 

“Oh yeah, he walked in while Eddy and I were watching this, he sat down and asked if we could start it over, it’s been his favorite for a little while.”

 

Edwin walked back with the tape in hand, slotting it into the VCR and sitting next to both Anthony and his wife. 

 

Though he was superior to his peers in most ways, it seemed Anthony’s body still had to go to sleep earlier than others, and with all he had been through that night, the child fell asleep easily. Just as Anna stood to put him to bed, though, the boy woke up, eyes falling on Loki.

 

“Can Loki tuck me in tonight?” Anna and Edwin looked to the mage.

 

“Of course.” Loki takes Anthony, careful to mind his back, and walks him to his room. 

 

“You came tonight.” The youngest Stark said.

 

“I promised I would, didn’t I?”

 

“Yes, but….people can break promises…...promises are just words.”

 

“And words are the most important thing you can ever have. You should know, I  _ always _ make true on my word, as long as it is in my power. And I  _ promise _ that if you call to me, unless I absolutely cannot be here, I will do my best to come.”

 

“Promise?”

 

“I do. I promise, Anthony.”

 

“Thank you, Loki.”

 

“Whatever for?”

 

“For keeping your promises, for being my best friend, my only friend.”

 

“Yes, that. Well, you should know that you are a friend to me, too. Have a good night, Anthony.”

 

“Night, Lo’.”

 

Loki left the bedroom, but not before placing a small enchantment on the sleeping boy, giving him at least one peaceful night it the days to come. 

 

\--

 

Edwin and Anna were waiting to interrogate him when he walked back into the den. He was expecting this, but he wasn’t upset or worried. They were the ones who took care of Anthony, they would want to make sure he wasn’t going to hurt him.

 

“So, where did you come from?”

 

“Originally? I met Anthony in his father’s workshop. I was trying to teleport away from Nidavellir as to get away from my brother and his friends, but I undershot it. He tried to protect me, a stranger, at his own expense. He knew what was coming, though told me to hide rather than running. I met up with him afterwards, helped him with the glass in his hair while talking with him and then I left.”

 

“Was this the first time you came back?”

 

“No, I’ve been here a few other times, Anthony has taught me a couple of things about your technology, here.”

 

“How did you know to come tonight?”

 

“I gave Anthony something to call me if he needs me. This was the first time he used it, I’m just upset it had to get this far.”

 

Before Edwin could ask further on the matter, Anna spoke up, voice cracking. “What was Howard doing?”

 

Loki’s mask fell to let anger and pity fall through. “I don’t know the whole story, why it happened. But when I got there, Anthony was bent over a table, shirt pulled up to show his back, Howard with a belt in hand. He was knocked out on the floor before he could get another his in.”

 

Anna’s eyes were tearing up. “We heard something before that…..what-”

 

“It also seems like there are some cigar burns on his shoulders.”

 

“My poor baby.” Anna cried. He understood her sadness, had felt it too as soon as he had first laid eye on Anthony that night, a boy should never go through that, but nobody could stop him. 

 

“Wait.” Edwin spoke up, why wasn’t he burned and bleeding when you found us?”

 

“I healed him.” Loki stated, confused as to why this part was being questioned. “You don’t have- right. Midgard.”

 

“Mid- what are you talking about?”

 

“I apologize. I am not from here, I am from Asgard.” At blank looks, he continued. “It’s a separate realm, you really don’t have to worry about it, very few people value it enough to visit.”

 

“Realm?”

 

“A separate….planet...one with magic and other advancements, but also setbacks, much like your world. Can we focus on Anthony right now?” Loki said, not knowing how to paint a place where he’d never been accepted in a good light. 

 

“Right, you healed him, but you also said to mind his back. What can we expect from that?”

 

“Healing is tricky, something I never needed to learn beyond the basics, so I didn’t. So he might be a bit sore, just treat him with your medicine and he will be fine, most likely just sore for a couple days.” Loki looked too the side, his mother was calling for him, telling him to arrive as soon as possible, that people were asking for him. “It seems I have to go.”

 

“We still have more questions.”

 

“Yes, I’m sure you do. However, Mother needs me urgently. This can wait until next time, yes?”

 

“Yes, but what about Howard?”

 

“He will awaken in the next few hours. Farewell.” Was all Loki said before disappearing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you go, more Tony angst and I'm changing the archive warnings. 
> 
> THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING AND I LOVE HEARING FROM YOU SO PLEASE COMMENT!!


	3. All Figured Out (Bowling For Soup)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YOU GUYS ARE GOING TO HEAR THIS A LOT BUT I'M SO SORRY!!!! SCHOOL JUST STARTED AND I HAVEN'T BEEN ON THE COMPUTER MUCH AND I'M SOORRRYYY!!!
> 
> I didn't want to leave you guys with a short and shitty chapter so I went along with my outline. Have at it.

 

Tony woke up fairly early for him. With his nightly activities, usually he would sleep in until ten or eleven before having his private tutor come. Really all she did was give him something to read, give him some work for a couple days and then test him on it. He was a fast learner. 

 

But Tony woke up feeling warm and comfortable, then he remembered what had happened the night before. Being caught sneaking out a screwdriver, Howard locking the door so the Jarvis’ couldn’t get in, and the burns and the belt. Loki coming, outing himself to the others in the house, watching a movie and having his only friend tuck him in.

 

The boy suspected Jarvis would find it odd for a six year old to be friends with an adult, and in some way it was, but it also wasn’t. He would never get along with people his own age, nevermind not being around them. For all seven years of his life, he had been mostly confined to the, although huge, same boring place. Loki was the only person he could find that could keep up a conversation with him, even though Tony could tell he was learning it then and there. 

 

He had no other friends, he couldn’t, with how secluded the mansion was and how different Tony was. But Loki liked him well enough, and that was enough. 

 

He was laying face-down in bed, which nearly never happened, mostly because he liked being able to look at the northern lights painting on his ceiling, but as Tony moved to his back, it flared in pain, which made the six-year-old’s hand immediately go to touch it which was a bad idea and caused him to cry out in surprise. 

 

Jarvis came in, holding an ice pack and some chewable Advil, and sat down next to the boy he loved so much. “What does it look like?” Tony asked, wondering.

 

“Well, your friend, Loki, said he healed you. And it looks like he did a pretty good job. You have some scars that look pretty angry, but it shouldn’t take nearly as long as it would have to heal over.”

 

“Will you help me to the bathroom?” Tony asked, feeling small. He never asked for anything, but his back hurt so much. 

 

“Of course.” Jarvis didn’t want to let go of the youngest Stark, and he looked about ready to cry anyway, so the butler just picked him up and walked to the bathroom, sitting the boy on the counter and grabbing the first aid kit and a mirror from the cupboard.

 

Tony let out a small sob as he saw his back through the two mirrors. It was mostly healed, but there were four or five scars marring his otherwise unscathed skin. The worst of them was one scar on his shoulder. It was a perfect circle, rough and bumpy like it had been bubbling at some point. That was the one from the cigar.

 

The boy cried into his butler’s shoulder, staining the pristine suit with salty tears. His entire back was an angry red, and it hurt with every movement and non-movement, something he’d have to get used to in the coming days. 

 

Jarvis rubbed something on that spot on his shoulder, and it instantly felt better. It smelled bad, but it would be much easier to deal with than the pain. His caretaker used various creams and ointments for the different severities of the belt marks, and bandaged them all up so it wouldn’t come off. Then it was time for breakfast where he would get extra-special treatment from Anna. The only thing that could make his morning perfect was for his friend to be there.

 

* * *

 

Loki arrived in Asgard under a minute after his mother called, wondering what she had called him away for. 

 

“What did you need, mother?”

 

“People have been asking after you, it seems like you spend more time to yourself than you do with anybody, or maybe with someone who called out to you recently.”

 

Loki sighed, his mother was far too observant, he would have liked to keep it a secret for a while longer, but didn’t have the heart to lie to Frigga. “Do you remember when Thor, me and his little friends were in Nidavellir, and they thought I teleported here though nobody had seen me?”

 

“Yes, I thought you had arrived in your rooms and were studying. What really happened?”

 

“I overshot it, too busy focussing on getting away than where I was going. I ended up on Midgard, where I found a boy.”

 

“A boy?” Frigga asked, more like she was cementing it in her mind that Loki had met someone he liked enough to want to protect, even if she didn’t know what from yet. It was well known that Loki only did things for others when he had to, as most people he didn’t like and didn’t like him.

 

“Yes. He found me in his house, where I was about to teleport out of, though instead of screaming or yelling for his parents, he just asked for my name.

 

“But...then he tried to protect me. He knew his father was coming down the stairs, footsteps louder than Thor’s when he’s excited, but instead of running he just told me to hide. Then preceded to do his best to get his father away, presumably so I could escape. He took a bottle being broken -over his own head, mind- over running and having me found.”

 

“That’s peculiar.”

 

“Yes. What made me stay instead of leaving, though, was….Anthony barely flinched as the bottle broke, just made a tiny, nearly inaudible whimper to the pain.”

 

“He piqued your interest.” his mother said, smiling. 

 

“Yes, I helped him clean the debris from his hair and left. But I gave him a calling pendant should he need me.”

 

“That’s very….responsible of you, Loki. I wouldn’t expect you to care for someone so quickly.”

 

“It’s just...something about him, mother.”

 

“This was nearly three years ago, I assume this is where you’ve been leaving to since?”

 

“Most of the time, yes. Tonight Anthony called for me, something he had never done, so I worried immediately. Howard, his father, had burned him with their tobacco and whipped him with a strip of leather, all for being in a room he wasn’t supposed to.”

 

Frigga looked at him in horror. “How old is he?”

 

“But a child, mother. I believe his seventh birthday is this month on Midgard.” She continued to stare, aghast at the notion. “Do you see why I keep going back? And besides all of this, or mayhaps in spite of it, he is so intelligent. He has even taught me some things about the technology the Midgardian scientists are still inventing.”

 

“Well, thank you for telling me, son. It seems like you have met your match, so to speak.”

 

“Yes, mother. I do believe so.”

 

* * *

 

When Tony turned seven Jarvis let him in workshop. As long as Howard wasn't home and he was under supervision, he was allowed. It was the best day of his life. 

 

No longer did he have to sneak around and stop at every little phantom noise- lest it be his father. No longer did he have to hide his accomplishments from Jarvis because he wasn’t supposed to be doing that. No longer was he waiting up all night for his most exciting part of the day.

 

From eleven to three thirty he was in the workshop, only leaving -being pulled out- to scarf down lunch somewhere in the middle. He was in there two less hours, but he accomplished so much more. He could count on Jarvis to tell him as soon as Howard was home, and he could immerse himself in his books or projects, then put them back or hide them, respectively.

 

Loki had been coming more, recently. It probably had something to do with his last visit, but Tony was happy to see his only friend. He’d been coming more during the day, too, now that Jarvis and Auntie Anna had given their approval. 

 

There had been a sort of tradition set. On Fridays Howard would work overtime, while Maria would be off at SI or with her friends doing whatever she did -Tony wouldn’t know, she never brought work home with her- so once a week Loki made sure to be there and they would have a movie/game night. It seemed a bit childish for the adults, and a bit for the child who was so smart for his age, but they just joked around and had fun, so they did it regularly. 

 

Tony wondered about Loki. He obviously wasn’t human, that was obvious as soon as he saw his friend disappear from the room. He wasn’t human, and he wasn’t the little green or grey aliens depicted in every alien representation out there, so the answer wasn’t obvious; something that Tony was glad for- he was happy Loki wasn’t normal -normal was boring, nothing good ever came out of boring, bored people went crazy after a while.

 

While he knew a bit about Loki, he didn’t know  _ what _ he was. He looked his friend up in the encyclopedia, once he thought of it. It said Loki was a mythical being from the old Northern Germanic people, that he was a god of mischief and mayhem, and to Tony, that he was  _ perfect _ . 

 

Who better to be his friend than someone obviously so smart and who would never let things get boring? 

 

Easy answer- nobody.

 

After the next couple times Loki came down from Asgard (which Tony had found out after a trip to the library), Tony found what he had wanted to find. There was a miscellaneous shop in the city, the store Tony loved most. He found the most wonderful things there that he had made into various other things, and the people loved him. As little as he left the house, he came here almost every time he did, and rarely left empty handed.

 

Shits & Giggles had a section devoted to mythology. Shelly and Randy -the owners- loved it, and it was where Tony had first found the movie Valhalla, which had quickly become his favorite, so he knew they had at least  _ something _ . 

 

“Tony!” Shelly said as soon as the bell above the door rang. “It’s so good to see you again. We’ve gotten a whole bunch of new stuff. Have anything in mind?”

 

“Yeah, and this is going to sound weird.”

 

She just gave a hearty laugh. “That’s what we specialize in, sweetie. Whatcha looking for?”

 

“Maybe Norse things? Like about the gods?”

 

“Gotta be more specific. Item or book?”

 

“I’m not sure, really. About Loki.”

 

“OOhhh! One of my favorites. Randy likes the Warriors Three, y’know, Fandral, Hogun and Volstagg. Sometimes he’ll lump in Sif too, but I have always liked a bit of mischief. So, naturally, we have a subsection for my favorite. Take a look.”

 

Standing on a stool, Tony peered into the glass. There were charms, much like the one around his neck (though it was doubtful those were anything more than accessories), there were books, copies of the eddas (something he’d come back to), but he finally found what he was hoping they’d have. 

 

There was a rock, perfectly oval and round, with a rune smoothly etched into it. Tony had seen it a lot in his research, it was fairly complicated, but easily recognizable for the child. It was the rune for his friend, his god. 

 

“I’d like the rock with the rune, please.”

 

“Of course, mini me. Coming right up.”

 

It costed fifty dollars, which Tony expected. Though they were rich, Tony had been told he never acted spoiled. Jarvis had never been the most comfortable with throwing money around, and Tony only pushed him when he  _ really _ wanted it. And after babbling on and on at the register about the meaning of the rock, Jarvis was content that it wasn’t a fifty dollar paperweight and handed over Howard’s card. 

 

When Loki saw it on his next trip, on Tony’s desk as he slept and in his pocket all other times, he couldn’t help but smile. He had always known the child was too smart for his own good.

 

* * *

 

He still only rarely used the pendant. Only while Howard was being a hostile drunk, but he still carried the stone everywhere, even after he went off to college at the age of 15. The only time he took it out was to change and to sleep. Nothing and nobody -except a certain mage- ever saw it. Tony was pretty sure Jarvis thought he forgot about it. 

 

He never did. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm getting some free time soon so I should have a couple more chapters soon. If I get another one in the next few days then I won't post it. I'll try and get to posting every Saturday now. I'm going to try and get ahead before posting again. :)


	4. Down For The Count (Bowling For Soup)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is a short one, but I ran out of things to write and I wanted to get this out. I hope you like it.
> 
> And yes I know I'm a day late. I was a lot lazier this week than I expected to be.

 

Tony went to college at fifteen, way younger than any of the other kids, but MIT was excited to have someone so young yet still exceeding their normal test scores. He hadn’t been to a normal school, but his parents forced him to go to so many press things that he was used to going from having hundreds of people around him to being alone in his room. But nothing compared to college. 

 

He could handle Howard beating him up, that was what he did and Tony didn’t try to change that. But he wasn’t used to being picked on for being smaller, he wasn’t used to people outing him and pushing him around just because they could. He could handle the cuts and bruises himself, it was no big deal. His teachers, at least the ones that liked him, looked at him with a bit of pity, trying to get him to tell them who it was, but he didn’t want to have to be pulled out and go back to Howard after ruining his reputation, so he kept quiet. The teachers that didn’t like him -he corrected them when they were wrong, they didn’t like that he was right- they just smirked a bit to themselves. 

 

He could handle it, Stark men were made of steel.

 

Loki came all the time still, and so the student had buckets of foundation in his bathroom to cover up the cuts and bruises before movie night. The mage would be furious otherwise. 

 

There were some beatings he could barely walk away from, though. Where he had broken ribs and a near concussion. Those took a while to heal, but he could patch himself up. 

 

It was a night were the usual group of bullies had found them, though they had recently started a new habit -smoking. 

 

Tony stayed away from smokers, as much as he could at least. His father had taken him to many a press meeting where everyone in a three mile radius was smoking, and all Tony could do was hide in the bathroom and hope not to go into a panic attack. 

 

But as Heather, Heather and Heather stalked towards him, cigarette in hand and all he could think was to get out. All he saw was Howard with his cigar. He felt the old cigar as he felt the new cigarette burn his skin. Could feel the punches and kick as he felt the lashings from Howard’s belt. He was suddenly seven, and only thought to whisper one thing. 

 

_ “Loki...I don’t know what’s happening. I-I’m in trouble.” _

 

One of the bullies heard him and paused. “What did you say faggot?”

 

Tony had his eyes closed, he didn’t see what happened, he barely heard the punches land when they weren’t at him. The next coherent thing he knew was he was home, a condo near the school, in the arms of his only friend. 

 

Loki was there, again, just like he was when Tony was seven. He was healing the mortal before finishing assessing the damage. He was furious, like the teen expected him to be. He wasn’t naive enough to think Loki would never find out, just enough to think he might be able to hide it for a while longer.

 

The mage was on a rant, he was in the middle of a sentence when Tony caught it. “-don’t even know how long this has been going on, you’re such a fool you probably haven’t even gone to the doctor. You are so lucky that I wasn’t too busy today, that Odin fucking Allfather didn’t want me to go with Thor on a stupid hunt.”

 

“You would’ve come anyway.”

 

“How do you know that? How can you be so sure? You are so confident in how to take care of yourself, that you hide when you are in pain from someone who can take it away. You, Anthony, are a fool indeed.”

 

“Yes, just the silly little mortal not knowing how to take care of himself, especially not in the big world all by himself. No he needs to have people around him to protect him, to shelter him-” 

 

“You know that’s not what I think.”

 

“Sure does sound like it.”

 

“Look, Anthony, the fact of the matter is that these people are bigger and older than you. You can’t walk into class with two broken ribs everyday then get them broken again as soon as they heal. That’s not healthy.”

 

“I don’t think I’ve seen one person on campus that’s healthy.”

 

“That’s because they can’t finish their homework in class, because they work jobs instead of sleeping just to get their shitty Top Ramen meal in. You have the opportunity to excel here, and how will you learn if you are constantly nursing wounds?”

 

“What do you expect me to do, then? You can’t follow me around like a shadow, I wouldn’t want you to fight my battles all the time anyway. But I don’t know what else to do besides keep going on.”

 

“Why don’t you learn to fight back?”

 

“From who? I didn’t grow up in a bad neighborhood, people that I could actually fight never wanted to beat me up before, I didn’t need to learn to fight. I don’t know how.”

 

“Have you tried?”

 

“Of course, Loki. I tried a few swings the first couple times they started beating me up, but that just resulted in worse injuries, so now I focus on defense, trying to get away and evading. Plus, I’m fifteen, I’m not going to up and join karate right now, where am I going to learn to fight?”

 

Loki thought about it for a good minute. He didn’t want to suggest it, but it was the only good option he could think of. “What if I taught you to fight?”

 

“I thought you didn’t like hand-to-hand combat?”

 

“Oh yes, I much prefer long-distance and/or magical attacks, or to fight with daggers up close. But I do know how to fight.”

 

“So where are we going to do this?” The scene of Tony’s condo melted around them to be an open meadow, complete with daffodils and daisies. “Yeah this works.”

 

* * *

They trained at least three times a week. Tony only had classes on four days out of the week, so on the remaining three he would go to the gym or relax sore muscles until Loki got there. 

 

The bullies didn’t relent. Tony still could barely fight back and eventually went back to curling into a fetal position on the ground, just to see Loki by the end of the week and have his broken bones healed and spend some time together. 

 

Loki couldn’t come everyday, though. He had things to do in Asgard, royal duties and studies to keep up with, he couldn’t stay on Midgard 24/7 to babysit the fifteen year old. 

 

The god still loved his time spent with the teen. Anthony had a cunning wit and a silvertongue to rival his own. He just wished that he didn’t have to see the child get beat nearly every time he saw him, every time for the past eleven years. He wished the kid had another friend, just to protect him in the times Loki couldn’t be there to, in the times Tony didn’t think it was bad enough to call. 

 

He asked Yggdrasil for this, in earlier years, when Anthony was being beaten by Howard, but they never got answered. He asked again as soon as he saw the fresh cigarette scars from the bullies. 

 

This time he got his wish.

 

* * *

 

He had finally found a friend. Someone he could call up to hang and who would let him hole up in him makeshift lab for days and drag him out to go to class. Rhodey was everything that Loki couldn’t be. 

 

He would never think of replacing the mage, but he needed more people in his life. Now that Jarvis and Auntie Anna were a couple states away, he had to do things like drive and cook for himself, make sure he was awake for school. He hadn’t had to use any kind of personal responsibility, able to just do what he was told and break the rules a bit. He was adjusting, still wasn’t the best at making sure he ate or slept, but he was working at it. 

 

That was where Rhodey came in. 

 

They met after a long weekend of switching between the gym and his condo and getting beat up along the way, he was just finishing up that last job, on the floor trying to keep his insides, ya know, inside. But someone stopped it halfway through.

 

He was eighteen, fresh out of high school and ready for the military. James Rhodes did what no one else did, he stopped the bullies from beating Tony up and became friends with him. Not for money, or to say he knew a Stark, but because he wanted to be friends with him.

 

There had only ever been one person who had done that before, and Tony was certain he would never find someone so amazing again. Rhodey may not be an awesome space mage, but he was going to be a soldier, so he was just barely a step down from the prince. 

 

* * *

 

The end of college had some ups and downs. Tony didn’t get beat up anymore, because he learned how to fight back and got really good at it. He got to tease Rhodey a bit for getting out two years before him, though they still lived in the same condo -lab space for Tony and Rhodey only paid a fraction of the rent, not being allowed to see the bill and forcing the former to accept some money- while Tony got ready to take the company over at twenty-one. 

 

But it was one fateful day in bliss where everything went wrong, or at least, most things. 

 

Rhodey didn’t know what was happening, but he heard the door to the lab lock (not an uncommon thing) then deadbolt (a  _ very _ uncommon thing) and immediately became worried. He became even more worried when he heard a heart-wrenching scream of agony.

 

With both locks engaged, plus the security system Tony had been working on, there was no way he would be able to get in. He did the only thing the thought to do. 

 

“Loki, I know I don’t have Tony’s magical necklace thing, but dammit he needs help and I can’t get to him.” He shouted through the door.

 

In Asgard, in the middle of a fitful sleep, Loki heard him, along with the scream interrupting him, and left at once. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to be clear, I fucking hate that f- word I used. I hate it. I cringed writing it but how could I have bullies if they didn't even make fun of him? I'm sorry if that upset anyone, but it upset me too, so hang in there


	5. Death Of A Bachelor (Panic At The Disco)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE READ THE NOTES!!!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this should be the end of the non-stop angst. I know it's kinda just been really shitty for Tony but I wanted to get past his childhood before moving onto the movies, and that way I've hit the major points. 
> 
> I will not lie to you, I almost cried writing this. 
> 
> One more thing. TRIGGER WARNING: SUICIDAL THOUGHTS VOICED!!!!!! So if you shouldn't read that part just skip it from when punches are first thrown down until the bold. It's not very long, it's just kinda put out there. So reader discretion is advised

Loki shot up in his bed. A scream of agony tore through his head as someone shouted his name from afar. He knew that voice. It was Anthony’s friend. And the scream was Anthony’s. What was happening that James couldn’t solve?

 

He appeared in Anthony’s lab -really just a workshop with more than enough power tools and blowtorches, in his opinion- and he was on the ground in the corner, curled into a ball and crying like the mage had never seen before. He was clutching a cell phone to his chest, leaning into the wall like he did when Loki was carrying him away from Howard when he was seven. 

 

It was unusual, the young inventor hadn’t even noticed him yet. With such a bright mind, he noticed nearly everything around him, constant disapproval at home made him evade things, distrust new people until they proved themselves. Rhodey was lucky he had done that as he met Anthony. 

 

“Anthony? Anthony what happened? I can’t help if I don’t know what’s wrong.”

 

“Lo’?” He used a nickname he hadn’t in a while. Now, trying to act older, the student used either Lokes or his full name. “They…...they’re gone. They’re all dead.”

 

“Who’s gone?” The mage asked as he sat next to the weeping child. He turned into Loki’s shoulder, smearing tears onto his sleeping tunic, but that was the least of his worries right now.

 

“Jarvis a-and A-Anna, Kyle, Howard, Maria. They were in a cra-ash *hiccup*, they’re all dead.” Tony let out another sob on the last word, and Loki’s heart broke. The two that had been with Anthony since the beginning, since before Loki was there, were gone. 

 

Someone was pounding on the door. James was locked out, that was why he called Loki. With a flick of the wrist and flare of magic, the door was unlocked and a future soldier was tripping over his own feet on the way in. 

 

“What happened?”

 

“Edwin and Anna Jarvis have passed.” Loki said simply, Anthony choked on his breath as he was reminded of the fact.

 

“Oh Tones. I’m sorry.”

 

“You didn’t even know them.” He croaked out. “Jarv and Anna were so amazing. I was going to let you meet them this summer….Kyle, our driver, used to do fun things in the car, he would’ve gone anywhere for us.” Tony burrowed deeper into Loki’s shoulder, sobbing harder. 

 

“Come on, Anthony. Let’s go to the couch.” Loki said, getting Tony to stand and moving to carrying him as the mortal’s legs gave out. 

 

The three of them moved to the couch, Rhodey popped in one of their favorite movies, a stupid action-comedy they liked to make fun of. The air was heavy throughout the whole movie, Tony curling into the being that had protected him nearly his whole life. Eventually, after the sobs turned to whimpers and those turned to silent tears, the inventor’s exhausted body went limp with sleep, and Loki carried him to his bedroom, tucking him in like he hadn’t needed to it so long. 

 

Rhodey met him in the kitchen, he was nursing a bottle of beer, though it was just five in the afternoon, though the mage supposed it was expected after the fiasco.

 

“So….I get that Howard wasn’t the world’s best dad, but he didn’t really mention him or Maria while he was upset. It was mostly about Jarvis and Anna, I thought most kids rich enough to have a butler didn’t care much for them?”

 

Loki chuckled darkly. “Oh how amused I am by you Midgardian media to put that idea in your mind. Though, I guess it is much the same in Asgard, however I think perhaps I never got along with the servants there was the fact that I never got along with anybody.”

 

“Anyway….”

 

“Anyway, Edwin and Anna Jarvis were more like parents to Anthony than Maria and Howard ever were. Anna fed Anthony all his favorite foods whenever she could, and gave him hot chocolate on rainy days, she was the most motherly person I’ve known, at least without out a child of her own. And there were none Edwin cared about more than his wife and pseudo-child. And Anthony thought of them both as his mother and father, though he still gave the titles to Maria and Howard, who never deserved the titles.

 

“Howard was a nasty old drunk who got a kick out of beating Anthony. He would throw fists for something as small as standing a bit too far at a press conference or needing to use the bathroom while they were out. All from the privacy of the mansion, though. 

 

“Maria could’ve stopped it. Howard was so in love with her that if she so much as half heartedly asked him to stop he would’ve. However, she just sat back with her wine and watched the show. By the time I met him -when he was four, no less- he was so used to bottles being broken over the top of his head that he barely flinched and could get the glass out of his hair on his own.” By the time he was finished, he was seething and James had his mouth hung open. 

 

Loki hated Howard and Maria with a passion, would do nearly anything to give little Anthony to the Jarvis’ instead of them, though he couldn’t and now they were gone. 

 

It hit him like Mjolnir, he was all little Anthony had left. The only person to connect with his childhood. He was the teen’s only friend growing up, and was now the only friend he had who knew him as a child. He would have to make more of an effort to see him, even more than he was already. They should have a two-way communication. Like the telephones midgardians had invented. 

 

James was throwing away his second beer when Loki came out of his planning. “Where’d you go?”

 

“Pardon?”

 

“You stared at the wall and got all, heh, spacey. What were you thinking about?”

 

“I realize that now I am the only connection Anthony has to his childhood. Most children get friends and family. I was his only friend growing up, and I do understand how that comes across, especially considering we met when he was four, but nevertheless, he has nobody else to actually care for him, and he is still but a babe.”

 

“You do know he’s eighteen right?”

 

“Right, I forget the aging of mortals sometimes. You are not considered an adult in Asgard until you can either win a one-on-one battle with somebody or bear children.”

 

“You guys still have gender norms like that? I thought you were high and mighty and you still want your women at home with the children.”

 

“ _I_ never set these. And there have been many a woman warrior. Thor has one in his own little group. And there have been men coming from different species coming to live in Asgard -granted, not a large quantity- from places like Niflheim , who operate much like your, uh….ocean stallions.”

 

“Seahorses?”

 

“Yes, but we are off point again. Anthony is young, too young to not have parents or guardians able to give advice, people who know the answers to questions about adulthood.”

 

Someone tripped off the alarms he had put in place to warn when someone was about to enter his rooms in Asgard. It was his mother.

 

He closed his eyes and sent a double to tell her of the situation.

 

_ “Loki? It is nearly midday, you missed our time in the garden.” _

 

_ The double appeared in front of the door. “Are you even in there?” Of course she could tell it was a double, he was hardly using any effort with it. _

 

“Dude, where are you right now?” James said, silenced by a hand he put up. 

 

_ “No. Do you remember Anthony?” _

 

_ A hand caressed his flickering cheek as she gave a sweet smile. “Of course, it is nearly all you’ve spoken about since you told me. _

 

_ Both he and his double blushed at the realization.  _

 

_ “Some people very close to him have died, I’m afraid he needs me here for a short while.” _

_ Frigga looked like her heart broke a bit, and disappeared from behind his closed eyelids. _

 

Loki opened them when he heard James give a startled yelp, then watched as he stared at the goddess, now standing in Midgard.

 

“Mother, why did you leave Asgard? It might need its queen, and what might we tell father?”

 

“Tell him I was out riding with you, and Asgard can find someone else to consult for tonight.”

 

“Why did you come?”

 

“I am the Allmother, as so many seem to forget. There is a child hurting, and my child is hurting by association.”

 

“I am fine.”

 

“You care for him, you hurt when he hurts. It is the way love works.”

 

“Wait, you're in love with Tony?” James sputtered.

 

“A form of love, not romantic, but love nonetheless.”

 

“I am  _ fine _ , mother.”

 

“You rarely are when you say that, my child. And plus I wanted to meet the boy you’ve told me so much about.”

 

“You little sneak!” Loki’s face broke into a smile. They made amiable conversation for some time after that, waiting for the broken hearted boy to wake.

 

Anthony came out of his room after three hours of sleep, he didn’t seem very fazed at there being another person in the room, in fact he seemed very numb as he bypassed the beer in the fridge and went straight for the hard liquor. 

 

“You know you’re still three years away from that being legal, right?” James reminded him, though didn’t move to stop him.

 

“Did you know that people are usually well into their forties when their parents die and can drink as much as they damn well please?” Anthony said as he grabbed a cup and filled it past what was the usual measurement for whiskey, yet still downed it in one go and poured another. And another. And another. 

 

“Okay, Tones. That’s enough.” James said, pulling the bottle away, only to have to dodge a punch. 

 

“I’ll have had enough when I can see Anna and Jarvis again, you don’t get to tell me how to cope, Rhodes.”

 

“But I do get to tell you when to stop before you kill yourself.” He said, catching another fist thrown and trying to hold Tony down. 

 

“Who says I want to stop, huh?” Everyone in the room froze, the only sound was Anthony’s panting as he struggled against James. “Who says I want to stop? Who gets to say how I want to live without the two people I loved most in the world? Who gets to tell me if I want to live? I would be dead if it weren’t for them, why should I get to live after them?”

 

“ **Enough** .” Loki said, fuming. 

 

“Loki I-”

 

**“No.”** He continued, stalking up to Anthony and grabbing him by the chin like a parent scolding a child. “You **don’t** get to say those things. They aren’t words you get to say. If you _say_ them, if you _act_ on them, Howard wins, and everything the Jarvis’ did for you is rendered useless. You don’t get to win the game if you end it early.” Loki pulled Anthony to his chest as the tension in the room died down. 

 

“I just- I want to see them again. I just want to be able to say good bye. I love them so much, it feels like my heart has been ripped out and stabbed, then shoved back in my chest with a band aid. But nobody cares about the butler and the maid, no, they care about their stock in Stark Industries, whether to pull it or not, how I’m going to continue the company. About how I’m going to have to speak at the funeral and talk nicely about Maria and Howard.” Anthony started once again sobbing into Loki’s shirt, but he cared even less than he had before. 

 

“I….I have an idea about the eulogy, Anthony.” Frigga spoke up

 

“How about not go?” Anthony chuckled wetly, running out of tears.

 

“You know how that would look to the public, no.” Loki answered.

 

“How about, from now on, we refer to Anna and Edwin as your mom and dad. That way you can speak about them, and tell everybody about how amazing they were, but without risking the company by speaking poorly of Howard and Maria.”

 

“That’s….actually genius. Thanks…..wait who are you?”

 

“Frigga Allmother, Loki’s mother.”

 

“Sorry you had to see that.”

 

“Everyone has their low points, particularly in these situations. You are fine.”

 

They ended up back on the couch, this time the two gods and James made small talk while Anthony stayed smashed between his two best friends, his two only friends, leaning his head against Loki’s shoulder while he thought. 

 

Everyone allowed him the time to think. To sit without having to be part of the conversation and think. Think about things he didn’t have to think about before. 

 

He would get the best funeral supplies for his pseudo-mom and dad, he would have to look over the will with a lawyer as the only living friend, he would have to look through the SI business and make sure Howard had things running smoothly, that there was things like health care and dental for the people working for him. 

 

As the sun went down, something clicked in Tony and he understood what had actually happened today. Yes, Anna and Jarvis died, and that was something he would never get over, but he also lost the biggest monster he had ever faced. He wasn’t folding to end the game early, no, he was finally winning. He was winning when before he was scared to try. 

 

Howard was right. Stark men were made of steel. Tony, however, he didn’t want to be a ‘Stark man’, he wanted to be more useful, happier than Stark men were, better than Howard’s ‘Stark man’. 

 

Tony was iron. He was what made steel, he was better, more useful. He could break, he was human, just like iron rusted. 

 

Tony fell asleep as darkness flooded the condo, a slight smile on his face as he ran a sentence through his head.

 

_ “I am iron man.” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SORRY FOR THIS!!!! Also, shoutout to rmh8402!!! Did ya guess it?
> 
> Have I ever said how much I LOVE writing "Anthony"? Because it's a great word to write


	6. Thnx Fr Th Mmrs (Fall Out Boy)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO SORRY ABOUT HOW LATE THIS IS!!!!
> 
> I always have an excuse, I know. And the truth is, for a while I was putting it off, one weekend I had an essay due then I was just kinda slacking for a while, then I got grounded for about a month. 
> 
> (I'm still grounded I just couldn't wait to finish this)
> 
> I hope y'all enjoy it!

Tony worked through it. He repeated to himself over and over, “I am iron man.” until he couldn’t not believe it. He was a man made of iron, in every way except literal. He could never be beaten down, he wouldn’t bend to someone else’s will unless they had the right tools, and how very few tools there were. 

 

Jarvis and Anna were dead, and that took a toll on the inventor for days, weeks; but he realized something else. He had been in charge of their funerals, contacting friends and family and purchasing only the best for his family to be buried in, his real family, but it wasn’t until he was in the car on his way there he noticed another absence from his life. 

 

Howard was dead. Maria was dead. 

 

The sick fucks that made his life a living hell were dead. And, although nobody in their right mind would be caught jumping for joy at the death of their parents, Tony hadn’t been in his right mind since he got burned by a cigar. 

 

Loki smiled as Anthony’s face lit up. He was only going to the event to protect the teen from the accusatory looks and whispers of people who thought he had never cared about his servants, that he was a rich kid who had set all this up to look good for the press. That all he cared about was the two caskets filled with billionaires, not the ones with caring people who risked their job to pick glass out of your hair and made you hot chocolate on rainy days. 

 

Loki scowled at what they thought Anthony was. What kind of person he was. They knew nothing, and they would know as soon as he went up to do his speech. 

 

But then there were the people in the front of the room. The business men and women who were there to make an appearance, to get on the cover of magazines with pictures of a weeping professional who lost his ‘good friend’. They also knew nothing. They sneered at Anthony for receiving the fortune. They made snide comments about his intelligence. They knew nothing.

 

Loki laughed at their ignorance. 

 

All the way to the funeral, Anthony was whispering to himself. Saying things Loki couldn’t hear and didn’t feel like they were something he should listen in on. He had made a promise, that he intended to keep. He would never lie to the boy who had saved a god and taken a beating for it, he would be an upstanding citizen, never hurting him if he could help it. Loki may have made the first promise to Anthony, but he made the second to himself, and he couldn’t decide which one was more important. 

  
  


As the funeral started, there was a bishop who made the opening announcement and talked about how the deceased would be missed dearly. Both Anthony and Loki chuckled to themselves as he went on to talk about heaven. While both Maria and Howard considered themselves to be conservative Christians, in the audience was a an atheist, with the sole exception of Loki as his god, and that very god sitting right beside him. 

 

As it was, Anthony seemed to be doing as best as could be expected. He was meeting Loki’s eyes, wasn’t biting his nails, he was looking like he had something to get over with but was looking forward to the next day. 

 

His attitude changed as the bishop called him up to give the eulogy. It was a big feat, and Tony had been stressing over his speech all week. He wanted it to put the company in a good light while focussing on Jarvis and Anna. Yet, as he walked up to the podium, his nerves fled as grief rushed in.

 

From the front, he could see Loki looking at him with proud eyes, ones that told him he had someone on his side, no matter if he crashed and burned, that he would be saved from the flames. 

 

Watching Loki and Loki only, Tony just muttered ‘Fuck it’ into the mic and put his cards away. 

 

“I came here with a big speech that I thought would be appropriate for a funeral. A business funeral, keeping things professional and not shedding a tear. But I know that I’m not going to leave here with dry eyes. Hell, I’ll probably have to call someone to drive me home.” That got a chuckle from the crowd. “Anna and Edwin Jarvis were the lights of my life, growing up.” And that got a lot of confused looks. “Anna made me hot chocolate when it was cold, Jarvis let me mess around with tools and taught me to read. They made sure I was tucked in every night and read me Sherlock Holmes until I fell asleep. They were my parents, the ones that loved me and cared for me and made me pick up my shit when I left it everywhere. Howard and Maria just paid for things, they were bank accounts, but the Jarvis’ were my life.

 

“So I stand before all of you to tell you I miss them, so incredibly much.” Tears started rolling down his cheeks. “I’m going to miss the weekly calls, the vocational visits, the old recipes, everything. Their smiles, so different and yet so loving. Their tight hugs after I almost set something on fire in the lab.” They were flowing at a continuous rate now. “And nothing will ever compare to how much I love them, and how much I regret not telling them enough.”

 

He walked off the stage nearly sobbing. His voice had cracked a couple times throughout the speech, and yet all he could do is hide where he was most safe, in that little space between Loki’s neck and shoulder. 

 

Yes, he was sad now, worked up after talking about such a topic, but he knew he would come out stronger. He was made of iron. He was what made things possible. He built things, and could destroy them. And it took him nearly nineteen years to figure out he rusted. He could be worn down, could be thinned out until he would break, but he could be rebuilt too. Stronger, better. 

 

The days after the funeral were good, in an odd way. They showed him how easy it was to break down. 

 

* * *

 

When it came time to read the wills, Tony was surprised with how much the Jarvis’ had given him. Anna had given him his favorite blankets growing up, plus much of their nice china, along with some of Tony’s old drawing he made when he was a toddler, and his first inventions. 

 

Jarvis gave him all the things he hadn’t even remembered he had treasured. Every card he had given them on Christmas, along with the gifts he had given them, some birthday gifts for the future that were labeled with the age he was supposed to receive them at, and all the pictures of the three of them. 

 

Everything he made sat atop his dresser, and the things he had been gifted sat in a box labeled “Jarvis’”

 

On bad days, he would open the lid and stare at the things, the old pictures, most of them polaroids. If you cut out the Stark’s and made Tony a Jarvis, he had a really good life. If you didn’t, you would see how few good times there were, even just basing on the pictures. 

 

Everything else they had owned went to the friends and family they had, not very many people, sadly, with how hard they were worked, but they had been happy.

  
  


When it came time for Howard’s and Maria’s wills, it was no surprise that Tony got the huge fortune and the mansion, plus all the other houses around the world, everything and anything they could give away went to him. Which was really sad, when you thought about it. They hadn’t had any other living relatives when they died, except their son. Their ‘friends’ were just there to negotiate and try to get a cheaper price. The only person they had ever thought to give anything to hated them. 

 

But, Tony mused, they chose that. They chose to make him hate them, with how they treated him.

 

The only surprise when they were reading off the will was that Howard had had the foresight to give the business to Obadiah Stane, at least until Tony was twenty-one, which was in only a few years. 

 

Obie was someone who Tony didn’t know if he could trust. He was his father’s ‘friend’, which was a negative point in his book, but he decided that the company was doing okay, so the genius decided they could be acquaintances. 

 

* * *

 

Loki only left back to Asgard when he knew Anthony was going to be okay on his own. Yes, there were still bad days, and it would be a long time until they would be gone completely, but he was doing a lot better after the funeral. 

 

So he went back to Asgard, did his princely duties, kept an ear out constantly in case Anthony needed him, ready to drop things at a moment’s notice if he even heard the faintest call of his name. 

 

His name wasn’t called, at least, not during the times he accepted it. 

 

Obviously his name would come up while James and Anthony were talking. Telling stories about their previous adventures in trying to hide from the Jarvis’ and sneaking down to the workshop, as well as his likes and dislikes, stories about the holidays and how confused Loki was at being a  _ Nordic god _ celebrating  _ Christmas. _

[Even though neither of his caretakers had imposed religion, it seemed like more of a tradition than a celebration. They didn’t do most of the traditional things associated with a religious tradition, they didn’t go to church or pray or any of the things that relate the holiday to christ, just spent time as a family and exchanged small gifts before his parents woke up to drag him to events.]

 

But life went on, another day another lie, another lie another trick, another trick a bigger rift between him and the rest of Asgardian society. Loki didn’t really care if the Æsir trusted him, he didn’t care if they didn’t want to be around him, he had a mortal who he had been around for nearly all of the boy’s life, who  _ chose _ to be around him. Who had only ever pushed him away once, and it was because he had nearly smothered him while he was worried. 

 

No, Loki only cared about one person’s opinion about him. An opinion that hadn’t changed in nearly sixteen years. There was only one person who he would never lie to, never manipulate, only one person he cared enough about to stay honest. 

 

* * *

 

 

When Tony turned twenty-one, Obadiah decided to take him to a bar. He said it was something that his father would’ve done, and that he should still get the experience, but the younger of the two knew it would’ve gone nothing like Stane thought it would. Instead of drinking, there would have been punching, but Tony stopped thinking about that and tried to enjoy his night.

 

While Howard had followed in with his genetics and become a drunk, at least when he was home, Tony had no such plans. He gave the bartender fifty bucks to make whatever drink Obadiah ordered him non-alcoholic. He didn’t want to touch the stuff, he didn’t want to end up anything like his father. He was made of iron, and if alcohol was such a corroding force, he didn’t want to touch it. 

 

He was completely in charge of the company by the next day, Obadiah going back to managing his only his own. 

 

While Tony liked being on the open road as much as the next guy, he needed a driver. He had never understood until then why people had drivers, but when he was late for five consecutive business meetings, he realized that  _ everybody _ did their work in the car. Signing last minute paperwork, reading over the last bit of a contract and driving at the same time? It was dangerous for his health. So he found one. His name was Happy Hogan, and looked capable enough to act as his bodyguard too, but the man assured Tony that it was his choice to put him in that position, and that he had never been in a real fight. But he looked the part, so the billionaire wasn’t too worried. Plus if it came down to it, Tony had been in enough fights for the both of them.

 

He was doing his work, nothing but paperwork and he was always in his office, unless he had brought some home with him or out to a restaurant. That meant he didn’t get any time in his lab, that he barely had any time to check out new places for him to move into. While he loved the condo, he needed a bigger workshop now that he was designing for a company, his company. 

 

He was about to start looking into personal assistants, another luxury he had only recently understood the necessity of, when someone stormed into his office and slammed a thick packet of papers down. 

 

She was tall, had the form of a runner, and strawberry pink hair. Her name was Virginia Potts and she was yelling at him about an incorrect calculation. He hadn’t even started looking for a PA and had already found the perfect one; one that wouldn’t put up with his shit and would tell him if there was a discrepancy, not for her own benefit, but for the company’s.

 

“So, Pepper, how would you like a promotion?” He leaned back in his chair, giving the relaxed facade he was so used to putting on. The name took her by surprise, later he would find out it was a childhood nickname, and she stood frozen for barely a second before regaining her composure.

 

She sat down in one of the chairs opposite to him and started negotiating the position she was offered and the benefits that would come with it. Yes, this was someone who could help him run a company, if not do it all by herself. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I never noticed how much of a drug writing is for me. I hadn't written in nearly a month and a half and today my hands are going twice as fast as they usually do. 
> 
> Heh, next thing I know, all my ideas will be already up and the cursed writer's block will get me. Oh well, we'll see how that goes.


	7. Goner (Twenty Øne Pilots)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate writing fillers, that's what this is. I'll try to get the next one up ASAP, so if you don't wanna read two thousand words of pretty much nothing, there's a little summary in the notes at the bottom.

Pepper Potts ended up being everything he could’ve asked for and more. She had pretty much took over the business side of the company about a year into her job as a PA, leaving Tony with much less work on his shoulders and much more time for the workshop. That, of course, meant more time working on new inventions and things of the sort. Not much changed, just the load of paperwork and amount of people calling him everyday. 

 

Oh how glad he was that there was someone else competent on this earth, someone who knew what they were doing and how to do it right. 

 

Pepper was beginning to slide right up there next to Rhodey in his list of friends. 

 

The friend in question was leaving, actually. Going to fulfill his dream of going and fighting for his country before coming back and working in politics- Tony was glad he wasn’t in his shoes, he was just fine with the amount of politics he had to put up with, what with the army constantly wanting new and better things, but also ten million piles of paperwork to go with it, and wanting it as soon as possible.

 

The only motivation for actually obliging was that his best friend would soon be fighting along with the other soldiers, and he had wanted to keep them safe before, but now he wanted them to not be going at all. Not somewhere Rhodey could be killed.

 

It was stressful for him, the constant worry and minimal contact, but he managed it. 

 

It was good to have distractions. It was good to know that there was something else he could be doing, it was good to know that there was some way he could make his friend safer. 

 

In this, Pepper was a huge help. She almost lived in his tower with how much she came over, even had her own personalized floor and everything. She brought over work that he could focus on and dragging him out (sometimes literally) to meetings and fundraisers and such, not letting him ‘mope around all day trying to kill yourself with caffeine intake and sleep deprivation’, in her words. 

 

He also started on a new AI. It was going to be a kind of butler, named Just A Rather Very Interesting System, or JARVIS, after his favorite adult in the world. It was one he would be constantly updating his entire life. It was just a baby right now, but it already had a voice and was developing a personality. Once Loki saw it, he said that he’d ‘used Midgardian magic to create a soul’, but Tony was humble enough to comment further, kind of surprised with himself. 

 

Almost every moment he got away from Pepper, he was either talking with Rhodey or Loki had come down. It wasn’t as if they were keeping the mage a secret, it was just that he didn’t want to deal with all the questions that came with introducing someone to the intergalactic space mage who he was secretly maybe in love with tended to bring up some questions about his sanity, then whoever the person is questioning their own sanity. 

 

Things were starting to work out. Rhodey was safe. Pepper was amazing, the tabloids thought they were together with how much she was in the tower but it didn’t bother either of them much, the knew it wasn’t true. Loki was visiting regularly. 

 

There was a point where Pepper questioned the pendant, something that Tony had never, ever taken off, and the stone he still kept next to his bed, but he wrote it off as a gift from a friend and a childhood fascination. She had no idea the kind of power the former held, nor the sentiment given to the ladder. His CEO disregarded it as one of his many quirks. 

 

Of course, when everything starts to go well, and Tony starts appreciating life, that’s when things get more complicated. Justin Hammer was doing more with his company and was starting to catch up to SI with his cheap knock-offs, the government wanted new weapons that were newer and better at the exact same time, and they stopped his communication with Rhodey. It was all weighing down on him kinda hard. He had been in his lab for nearly seventy-two hours when Pepper came in with a thick stack of papers he needed to look over and sign, but she had to drag him to a meeting first. 

 

That kinda broke him. All the stress had been on his mind at once, and that along with the extra assignments made everything implode in his brain. He was in hysterics, mumbling about Rhodey and guns and phones, and he knew it was a panic attack. He could see everything, hear everything, and the conscious side of his brain was telling him to slow down, breathe, because he was about to pass out. 

 

Pepper, wonderful Pepper, tried so hard to get him to calm down. She was doing whatever she could think of, but it wasn’t working. There were very few people that could ever calm him down, and she hadn’t learned how yet. There was only one person that could get there in time so Tony wouldn’t just black out.

 

He was stuttering out the incoherent sentences at this point, but he managed to say the most important word of his life.

 

“L-Loki, h-help.”

 

* * *

 

Another boring trial. Some woman had been caught stealing bread to feed her family and they were deciding whether or not she should be put in prison or not. It was simple in his mind, she should be given a job at the store and her salary cut until she paid it off, then given an appropriate wage for her work. That way, the store got more workers, the woman paid off her debt, her family had a steady income and got fed. 

 

But Loki had learned long ago that his input would be ignored and they would go through with whatever they wanted. He was just there to make the appearance of learning something while they just wanted to show him how to dule out punishments and only hear one side of the story. 

 

He huffed to himself, when had he been in this situation before? Right, nearly everyday of his early life. 

 

Loki was pleasantly surprised when Thor asked for his opinion. The golden brother, wanting the world to be ruled by someone righteous and fair. Giving equally or nothing at all. The world couldn’t work like that, but the law could. 

 

“I believe we should-” Loki’s eyes widened ever so slightly as he heard the stuttered and panicked voice of his mortal through the magic of the pendant. The others in the room, however, were confused by his abrupt pause. He moved his eyes to his mother’s, who nodded ever so slightly. 

 

He heard the flawless mimic of his own voice from the branches of Yggdrasil as he travelled down to Midgard, leaving a duplicate behind to explain his ideas. 

 

There were more important things to worry about than the daily trial. 

 

* * *

 

“Loki? What the hell is a- you mean that god you said you used to be obsessed with?”

 

_ “Miss Potts. I don’t believe your line of questioning is calming him down any. I also recommend you stand back.” _

 

She did, trusting the AI to know what he was talking about, but was still surprised when a six foot two man is suddenly leaning over her boss, pulling Tony against him with no hesitation.

  
Pepper was even more surprised when he held on too, as if it were for dear life.

 

“Anthony.” A deep baritone voice with a british accent said, “I thought you left these days behind you along with college.”

 

Tony, now breathing deeply, face pressed into Loki’s shoulder. “I was going to, but I haven’t seen you in almost a month and thought this might get your attention.”

 

“My apologies, the All-Father has kept my time occupied for the past weeks. I seem to rarely have time to take care of myself. He likes to pretend I’m being considered for the throne, or that I might want it.”

 

Now that Tony was calmed and could breathe, he sat back and looked at his god like he always had, with all his masks off and heart shining proudly on his sleeve. He never hides anything from Loki, never had. In turn, Loki told him everything he felt comfortable about when he was asked about something.

 

“Ahem.” Pepper said, the two had forgotten she was there. 

 

“Oh shit. Sorry Pep. This is my best living friend in the whole universe, Loki. Loki, this is my wonderful PA and legal wizard, Pepper.”

 

“Ah yes, I’ve heard much about you in our conversations. It is nice to put a face to a name.”

 

“I have not heard a thing about you other than in a history course I took in college. I wonder why that is.”

 

“Letting my introduce myself allows me to put on my best face and saves Anthony the trouble of having to explain me.”

 

“So….what are you.”

 

“Oh you know,” the inventor started. “Just your average god of mischief and trickster although I’ve always thought people give him a much worse rep than he deserves, they just have a stick so far up their asses they physically can’t laugh anymore.”

 

“So you’re a nordic god who is better than everyone thinks.”

 

“Yup.”

 

“Okay, that’s my que to leave. I need to sleep on this. JARVIS, can I trust newbie here to not stab Tony?”

 

_ “Absolutely, Miss Potts.” _

 

“That’s all I need. I’ll need those papers signed by Wednesday. I’ll start sending electronic copies so you can just read through them and have JARVIS sign them all at once. See you tomorrow.”

 

As the click of her heels retreated, the two looked at each other and smiled. Tony was still heaving a bit, so they decided to relax on the couch for a bit before the inventor had to continue his work.

 

“Why is it that everytime you introduce me to your friends, you are having a panic attack.”

 

“Hey, with Rhodey I was beat up, not having a panic attack.”

 

“I apologise, I was thinking of the time  _ you _ met James.”

 

There was a long pause, then Loki asked;

 

“When was the last time you slept, Anthony?”

 

“I wanna say about…..three days ago, but I don’t know if rolling around in bed and waking up every ten minutes counts as sleep.”

 

“It doesn’t.”

 

“Then a week.”

 

“You need to sleep before you work again. I am here now and will force you.”

 

“You wouldn’t need to force me. Wait….can you even force me.”

 

“I don’t know a painless way, so no, but mother does.”

 

“Wow, threatening me with your mom. I didn’t think you would stoop so low. Fine, I’ll try and sleep.” 

 

Loki unfolded the couch and allowed Tony to crawl towards him until they were cuddled with the ladder’s head over the former’s heart. After nearly ten minutes of them just lying like that, the only sound in the room being their breaths, Tony asked, “Hey, do you think you can…..sing to me? Like you did when I was ten?”

 

Without pulling a strange face or questioning, Loki started up a lullaby from his childhood. His favorite that his mother used to sing. 

 

* * *

 

Tony was excited. Rhodey had gone to Afghanistan to serve for his country with the best materials money could buy, courtesy of SI, but they had pretty much seized contact to their home country. That being said, they hadn’t spoken in nearly a month and just as he was starting to get  _ really _ worried, his best friend told him he was allowed to join the next team was being sent out, in a week. 

 

He packed light, only a few changes of clothes and some shampoo, and set off. He was about to see his best friend and make sure nothing was defective before scolding the shit out of the people in charge and demanding a line of communication. 

 

It was the only opportunity he’d been hoping to have in weeks, he was going to leave with more contact than he came with, he was positive of it. 

 

Tony should’ve known better than to hope for something as nice as a good visit with his friend. That was how the world worked- nothing good lasts for long and when you expect things to be good they end up being worse than the worst case scenarios. 

 

He knew he was screwed when the bomb went off. He knew his chances of survival when he woke up in a cave without his pendant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So all that really happened is Tony got overwhelmed, the government are dicks, Tony got overwhelmed, Justin Hammer is also a dick, and Pepper met Loki. Then Tony's on his way to Afghanistan then gets blown up. I recommend reading the last bit there, just under the last line.
> 
> Again, I wanna have the next one up in a week, maybe a bit more. Though I am going on vacation soon, so I won't have time to write then


	8. Diamond Girl (Set It Off)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah I meant to have this out WAY sooner, even had it completed, but then half of the chapter got lost somewhere in the interwebs and I had to find time to rewrite it. Sorry my peoples, but I can't do much to change that. I hope to have the next one out soon, let's just hope google doesn't try to fuck with me again.

Loki knew there was something off. He’d always gotten some kind of proprioception with Anthony, he’d always known the man’s general location, as long as he was wearing the pendant. So really, it was the pendant that gave him the location.

 

The god teleported to the area in which the pendant was, though he only saw the patches of nearly dead plants surrounding the place, along with the military grade dismantled vehicles surrounding where he stood. Loki walked around the wreckage, concern steadily growing as he couldn’t find what he considered his human.

 

Eventually, Loki found the pendant, but not Anthony. He knew the man would not just take it off and throw it into the sand, and judging by the amount of things that were broken beyond repair, Anthony was either missing or dead.

 

The thoughts filled Loki with a rage he had never felt before. More than he felt towards Howard Stark. He had beaten and abused the boy, but he had never kept him from Loki, he’d never given anybody the slightest thought that he might be dead.

 

He refused to think about that option, just that he was missing. Hel would’ve notified him if Anthony had found himself there, and he’d go soon to make sure, but Loki to talk to someone, first.

 

Loki appeared on the bifrost, a rare sight to see indeed. An even rarer sight took place just after, Loki asked for help.

 

“Heimdall, I need a favor.”

 

“Ah, Loki. Is this malicious in any way, shape or form?”

 

“Not at all. I…..I need help.”

 

“It must be important if you are coming to me, one of the limited times somebody can do something you are unable to.”

 

“We both know that if I knew of any way to do this myself, it would be done already.”

 

“And judging by the fact you haven’t pulled out your hair, you did not hesitate to come and ask. Now, what might be so important to warrant the amount of sentiment you are freely showing?”

 

“Who, not what.”

 

“Oh?”

 

“He is on Midgard. His name is Anthony Edward Stark. He should be somewhere around central Asia. Afghanistan, I believe.”

 

Realizing the weight of the situation, the all-seeing god looked back to the stars to find this human. “That’s odd.”

 

“What is?”

 

“I cannot find him by name. Do you have something that would give his energy signature?”

 

“Yes, a pendant he’s worn nearly all his life.”

 

“Perfect.” Though confused by the amount of magic infused into the stone, he concentrated on the energy around it and looked once more. “He is being shielded.”

 

“Pardon?”

 

“I mean he is either in one of the old ravines or caves that ancient people used to get away from the eyes of their gods. Every realm has them, places surrounded by runes carved into rocks that have withered away yet still carry the magic. Or places so near the heart of the realm that the center outshines a life force. There are quite a few in and around Afghanistan, as they saw Russia repeatedly get invaded by the vikings, as well as different religions cropping up around them. I think they needed a place to feel unwatched before they became an extended civilization.”

 

Loki thought about the information. It would be nearly impossible to find Anthony before something could happen. “Would I be able to send things?”

 

“As long as you have a pre-established connection with this Anthony, there shouldn’t be a problem. These areas allow magic to enter, but not leave, as is the reason I cannot see things within them. Such is, you would not be able to connect with someone you’d only met once. But for someone that is this important to you, I would think that the connection is already there.”

 

“Thank you. I have a debt to you, for helping me with this.”

 

“Thank you for coming to me. I do hope that you find your mortal soon enough.”

 

Without another word, Heimdall turned back to his duties and Loki went on to continue his search.

 

* * *

 

Tony woke up in a cave. All he could remember was taking a picture with someone, then there was an explosion. Then there was a bomb, right next to him, one that said his name on it, and then he was here.

 

“Don’t move.” Someone said above him.

 

“Sorry?”

 

“You have a car battery attached to your chest. Don’t move, I’m almost done sealing the wires.”

 

“Why the fuck is there a car battery attached to my chest?”

 

“Because you have shrapnel in there, and I’m an engineer, not a surgeon. I can’t get it out safely, not with what I have here. They kinda just threw me in here and told me to keep you alive.”

 

“Sorry for getting you here.”

 

“You kidding? I’ve been here for months. This is much better than what else they might be doing. Don’t ask.” The man set down the mini blowtorch and picked something else up. “They didn’t give much of this, but there’s a little bit of shitty whiskey here if you want some.”

 

Tony cringed, never wanting a drip of that kind of stuff and becoming like his father.

 

“No thanks.”

 

“Are you sure? It’ll help with the pain. It’s not like they’re going to give you the good stuff.”

 

“I’m sure.”

 

“Alright. Your choice. I’m Yinsen, by the way.”

 

“Tony.” The man was bald, with thin wire glasses. He was old, and looked fragile, though that might’ve just been how he was holding himself. He was probably shorter than the inventor, though there was a sort of wisdom to his features.

 

“You should get your sleep, Tony. The men in charge could be in any minute and you need rest.”

 

His eyelids are growing heavy under the stress of the last few minutes. He couldn’t move very much, with there being a hole in his chest, but eventually the black abyss pulled him under.

 

* * *

 

Tony woke again to the feel of being dunked into a barrel of water. On instinct, he gasped in a breath, but all he got was water. He ended up coughing and eventually vomiting when they pulled him back up. That went on for a while longer, though they usually just left him there until he had to breath in. Eventually, water was all that came up.

 

It went like that for a few days. Not only that, but they would take him into another room and proceed to carve up his back and chest, always avoiding the wires connecting to the battery, seeming to understand that was what kept him alive.

 

Every time he came up from the water, Tony panicked about getting water on the wires. Every time he came back from the other room, Tony collapsed onto the floor. They would push a piece of bread towards him, along with some kind of mystery food. It looked like a green oatmeal, he never touched it.

 

A week into this, Tony felt a sort of tugging on his chest. At first he thought it was the battery, but it went deeper than that, it was like it was tugging on his soul. There was only a few times that’d happened; when he was little and Loki had promised to visit, but couldn't come in person, so he went in spirit. Sending a spirig double to his room to comfort him into sleep. He could always tell the difference from the little tug on his chest, otherwise, they were exactly the same.

 

“Loki.” Tony whispered. He hadn’t told Yinsen about Loki. He’d muttered to himself about the god, giving him some semblance of comfort in hell. Sure enough, the god materialized in front of him, though he looked like a hologram. He was sitting right in front of the billionaire, looking like a cross between rage and despair.

 

“Anthony. I am not able to see you this time, nor hear you, not this time. The place you are in is warded in a way not even Heimdall could see through. Wherever you are, I will find you. You will be in my arms soon enough, for both of our sakes.

 

“Anybody else will not be able to see or hear me when I do this. It’s connected to _you_ , so nobody else will know of what I say.” Loki took in a shaky breath. “Do what you do best, Anthony. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Just as suddenly as he arrived, Loki disappeared.

 

The next day, Tony found out what he was there for. He was meant to make more weapons for them. He would have refused outright, but it got him thinking. First, he would need to build a blueprint, but they couldn’t know what he was doing, they would kill him.

 

It took weeks, plus many more sessions where they reminded him of their power, and why he should cooperate. He built something to replace the battery before building their missile, though, he was going to help himself before anybody else, that and he was stalling for time.

 

Eventually, they stopped cutting him up. Mostly because he would try to walk up to the workbench and collapse from blood loss. The water was a constant, though. It was how he would wake up every day.

 

Loki was his other constant. He would show up every day, usually around the time Tony was supposed to be sleeping or working. After that first visit, he couldn’t sleep without his visit.

 

Yinsen was the best he could be. He patched up Tony when he was still being carved, he made sure he ended up sleeping and didn’t comment when the inventor started talking to the wall.

 

“I did the same exact thing. Thought I was seeing my family.”

 

“You have a family?” Yinsen’s face morphed into a sad sort of smile.

 

“Of course.”

 

“Tell me about them.”

 

That sent the older man into countless stories of his wife and daughters. He would grow reminiscent, and end up sitting silently until Tony was back from what the people in charge were doing. At one point, he tried to stop Yinsen from going on if it was upsetting him, but he just said that ‘when you are taken from the important people in your life, it’s important to keep them in mind just in case and their ideas change the world’. Even if the wording was odd in his American mind, Tony understood the message.

 

In turn, Tony talked a lot about the Jarvis’s, and even a bit about Loki. He made it clear that that was his family. Yinsen just nodded in understanding, saying that your family was your loved ones, not your blood. He said it in as if they both had experience in that.

 

By the time two months rolled by, Loki was getting more and more restless in his messages. They still came daily, but in some of them he had a constant flow of tears, in others he just seemed like he needed a hug.

 

He usually just talked about his day, but always ended it saying he was still looking, and would never stop. He always told Tony about how he was doing the bare minimum in Asgard, and how people had started avoiding him because they were likely to be punched for interrupting his duties. He told the mortal about how he had found the pendant, and how it hadn’t left Loki since he had seen it in the sand. He told Tony about how upset JARVIS was, and how he was going to get a warm welcome from all his concerned machines.

 

Tony was getting close to getting out, though. He was almost done building something that he called ‘Iron Man’, after what he’d been calling himself for years. He was supposed to be building a missile, and he had built many, just for the suit of armor and not for his captor’s use.

 

Unfortunately, Raza, the leader, caught onto his plan before it could take full effect. He had twenty four hours before he was to give them their missile.

 

Yinsen and Tony talked that night, whispering about how they were going to get out, and how Tony was going to take Yinsen back to his family. The older man agreed easily enough, the younger unknowing of the other’s plan.

 

The next day, Tony was woken by Raza yelling at him to start building again, before he went to the work area, he made sure Yinsen was good with the plan and then started to put the parts of his suit together.

 

The suit worked beautifully, but the plan didn’t. Yinsen had been planning to die all along, the stories of his family had been about the dead. Tony was glad he could be with them again, but it would always weigh heavy on his heart.

 

The inventor was hardly out for a few seconds before he was shot at, then in another minute he was setting fire to the whole cave.

 

Before Tony could even think about what had just been done, how many lives he could have just ended, he was in the arms of someone very familiar. He knew it was Loki even from within the suit, and was soon out of the desert and hearing a relieved artificial intelligence proclaim his excitement for and chastise his creator.


	9. Say Amen (Saturday Night) [Panic! At The Disco]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made Christine Everhart so much more important in this story than she ever was in and movie or comic book or fanfic that I know of. From the wiki, she has little to no backstory and I hate to see such a promising character be so flat, so I gave her a lot more dynamic and a lot better rep.
> 
> And I don't know how long this song has been out, but I found Say Amen (Saturday Night) yesterday and I love it. I also love (Fuck A) Silver Lining by Panic At The Disco, and I also just found Hold Me Tight Or Don't by FOB and I love that too

Loki instantly teleported them to the tower. Having Anthony finally back in his arms made the god surprisingly emotional. The whole time he had been looking, Loki’d been going off of rage. He was enraged at someone who’d dare to steal Anthony away. To steal  _ his _ Midgardian and place him somewhere even Heimdall couldn’t see.

 

As it was, he had to take care of the man he’d worked so long and hard to save. 

Anthony was shivering under Loki’s touch. He could tell it was just shock, along with the man probably being cold, seeing as it was May and the tower was cooled to combat the temperature outside. Loki picked up the human and carried him to the penthouse bedroom, the proceeded to wrap him in the comforter that hadn’t left the bed since February.

 

When the god realized how quiet Anthony was being, only letting out shaky breaths ever since they’d left Afghanistan, but now the billionaire hadn’t made a peep in almost ten minutes.

 

Looking down, Loki saw that the man had fallen asleep, probably the most sound sleep he’d had in months. The god smiled at seeing Anthony so peaceful, even if he wasn’t exactly okay yet. Safe with the knowledge that JARVIS was watching over them, Loki slept. 

 

* * *

 

Tony woke to a scream, which is weird considering that the only other person in the room was Loki, and he had shot up as well, and was now looking at him with concern. Then the billionaire realized it was him screaming, and it all flooded back to him; the cave, the torture, the water…..Yinsen. 

 

But he was here now, and that was all that mattered.

 

“Anthony, are you alright?”

 

“If you were anyone else, I’d say ‘I’m fine’, but I don’t know if I am, Lokes.”

 

“What was your dream about?”

 

“Honestly? I don’t even know. I don’t remember it, not really, but I’m pretty sure it was just a bunch of flashbacks.”

 

“Do you want to tell me about it?”

 

“Yeah….just not right now. Just let me take a shower, I’m gross.”

 

“Okay.”

 

Loki watched as Anthony grabbed a towel and left the room. The god had not thought about the repercussions of such treatment, but of course Anthony had problems with haunting memories. Even the most seasoned worries of Asgard confessed to night terrors once they were drunk enough. 

 

Loki was brought out of his thoughts when he heard JARVIS speak overhead. 

 

_ ‘Mr. Friggason, might I ask you to make your way to the bathroom? I believe Sir is in need of assistance I am unable to provide.’ _

 

Before the AI was even finished, Loki had stood and walked over, pulling open the door to reveal a figure plastered to the wall, staring at the shower.

 

Loki sighed quietly. “How many times must we meet up like this?”

 

Anthony looked over to the god, and choked out a laugh as Loki pulled him away from the wall. “I don’t know. I think I still have a couple more panic attacks before my heart gives out… Didn’t think I’d ever get so freaked out by water though.”

 

“Fears are not logical.”

 

“I’m almost thirty, Lo’. Too old for nightmares and being scared by a little water splashing on my face.”

 

“What happened in the cave, Anthony?”

 

Tony looked at his nails, where he was highly considering biting them again. “Every day I woke to being nearly drowned in a barrel of good ol’ H 2 O. Then I was cut up until they sent me to build bombs for them.”

 

“And what’s that in your chest?”

 

The soft glow of the arc reactor glowed brightly between them. “During the explosion, some shrapnel embedded in my chest. This thing here keeps it from reaching my heart. My buddy Yinsen built it for me, at least the prototype. I kinda expanded on it.”

 

“You have to change it.”

 

“What? Why?”

 

“When you have these attacks, I do a sweep of magic to heal anywhere you might’ve hurt yourself. This is poisoning you. It will kill you if you don’t change it out.” 

 

“How long do I have?”

 

“You know I can’t answer that.”

 

“Right…”

 

They just sat there for a minute before Loki spoke again. 

 

“You do know that you can never be too old for nightmares, right?”

 

“Well, yeah but-”

 

“No but’s. Thor still gets them and he’s centuries older than you….I still get them.”

 

“You do?”

 

“Yeah, I mean. Not often, but there have been battles where I was truly frightened.”

 

“Oh.” The awkward silence pressed on. 

 

“Come on, Anthony. Let’s get some breakfast.”

 

The man looked like a child with the way he looked up and asked, “Bacon?”

 

Loki smiled. “Yeah, I’ll make you some bacon.”

 

* * *

 

To live up to his playboy persona, Tony threw a party the weekend following his grand return. Loki had to go back to Asgard, having put off his duties during the time the billionaire was missing, and while Tony wished he was there, and always would, he understood having things to attend to. Loki had put everything off, saying that Frigga would cover him, but that Odin would be mad.

 

Neither of them gave two shits about what the space pirate thought, but he could make the mage’s life miserable. 

 

So, sadly, he wouldn’t be able to partake in the festivities, but it was mostly to keep up appearances. Tony invited everyone he could think of, or at least everyone he could stand.

 

That included his favorite reporter, Christine Everhart. She was the one that kept up his reputation, keen on building his character instead of living to destroy it. Only putting out a scandal when ratings got low. They had a deal, she would get exclusive tidbits of information and she would paint him in the best light she could. She wouldn’t purposefully damage him, and he would make sure she kept her job, or at least a job. 

 

That was what he was expecting, while he was out on the terrace with the party going on in the background, ginger ale in a champagne glass. Christine walked out behind him and leaned onto the railing next to him.

 

“Thought I might find you out here, away from all the hustle and bustle inside.”

 

Tony didn’t even look at her when she spoke, staring into the illuminated horizon. “I figured you deserved the story before the conference tomorrow.”

 

“So what actually happened? Because people have been trying to destroy your rep while you were gone.”

 

“Oh, you know. I was hidden in a cave, made a heroic escape to come back to my city.”

 

“And off the record?”

 

Tony sighed, looking into his beverage. “Kidnapped, tortured, forced into building bombs, built my first suit instead.”

 

“Oh?” He had known that she wouldn’t pity him, that she was safe with this information. Christine Everhart was the kind of journalist that dealt with victims of all things, and really only reported celebrity dealings when either there was something worth knowing about or if she was about to lose her job. “Did he come?” 

 

She was also the only journalist who knew who Loki was, or that he existed. He wouldn’t have ever told her, most likely, except for the fact that they’d been friends since they were both teenagers. They had met long ago, while Tony was still in college and Christine was just starting to take an interest in journalism. She had been thirteen, and Tony was seventeen; two years into his schooling.

 

“Of course. Even asked for help to find me.”

 

“Damn.” She had found out about Loki long ago, and was the only person he trusted who made money off of him. After more than twenty years of knowing each other, she knew more than Pepper did, she deserved it. 

 

From the outside, it was a very nice working relationship, but she was more important to him than a lot of the people he spoke to on a semi-regular basis, especially the politicians. 

 

“So, what’s been going on since I’ve been gone?”

 

“Do you remember Bruce? Bruce Banner?”

 

“Yeah, I dragged you out to one of his conferences a couple years back, right?”

 

“Yeah. He’s shown up on the radar recently.”

 

“What’d he do?”

 

“It’s not really what he did. But sometimes he’ll turn into a big green rage monster.”

 

Tony almost spit up his drink at that. “Sorry, what?”

 

“It’s hard to explain and not my story to tell.”

 

“I thought that was your whole job?”

 

“I’m a reporter, Tony. Not paparazzi.”

 

That was another thing he liked about Christine, she never shared information that the person didn’t want shared, so long as said information wasn’t a danger to people. 

 

“So, did you come up to chat? Because you seem a bit antsy, and you only do that when you have information.”

 

“You’re gonna want to sit down for this.”

 

“Should we go elsewhere?” Tony asked in a seductive voice. He never had and didn’t want to roll between the sheets with her, but there was always a possibility of someone walking out or having a listening device pointed on them while they were out here, and usually they went away once one of them suggested something….suggestive. 

 

“Definitely,” she responded in kind. 

 

They left the balcony, moving through the party with ease. It was a sight many of them had seen before- Tony Stark slipping off with this reporter to what they could only assume was his bedroom. When in reality, the room was only used to talk without being heard, JARVIS was really good at that. 

 

“So, what’s up?”

 

“You needed to hear this. JARVIS, where is Obadiah Stane?”

 

“Mr. Stane is away on business, Miss Everhart.”

 

“Why are you asking after Obie?”

 

“Because he’s not a good man, Tony. And I don’t want him hearing that I have evidence proving that he’s been dealing weapons,  _ SI _ weapons, to terrorists.” She pulled a file out of a bag that he hadn’t noticed. “It’s not confirmed, not officially, but I’m 90% sure that he’s been dealing to a group called the Ten Rings.”

 

Tony sucked in a breath, opening and reading through the documents, as well as examining the pictures. 

 

“Where did you get this information.?” She wouldn’t meet his eyes. “Christine?”

 

“Look, I don’t want you thinking that I’m sharing, you know I wouldn’t, but there’s another journalist who is in Afghanistan right now. He’s been following up on whatever economic thing is going on right now. But he saw Stane and followed, managing to get those pictures.”

 

“Who is this other reporter?”

 

“He’s just someone from the dispatch department. He doesn’t even know what the pictures have on them, he just sent them to my friend in the tech department to clean up. And she didn’t even know who it was.”

 

“Do you know when these were taken?”

 

“Maybe three months ago? I have been the only one with any clear copies until about five minutes ago, that I know of at least.”

 

“Son of a bitch. He was  _ in  _ the cave while I was being forced to build for them? Probably even heard me murmuring into empty space.”

 

Christine, long used to his ramblings and near antisocial tendencies, just looked at him with an understanding gaze. “What do you want to do?”

 

“I’m going to sneak down to my lab. Did you wanna stay here tonight?” By now, she had her own floor, no matter how often she told him to repurpose it. 

 

“Sure. You know how to reach me if you need anything.”

 

“Thank you, Christine.”

 

“Reporting on you is part of my job, but I’m also your friend. I’m going to be checking up on you more, you know why.”

 

He did. She knew first hand how it was for someone coming back from the kind of place he had just been. That it was in little moments where they were at their worst. Her brother had served, and come back with the same kind of mental scars that Tony probably now had. She had lived with someone who needed this kind of assistance, and she continuously interviewed people who had suffered a similar fate. She knew how to help, and expected him to let her.

 

And he would.

 

* * *

 

Tony asked Pepper to schedule a press conference for the following Monday. Any and all questions she had about it get the same answer; ‘I’m gonna fix things’. 

 

It comes soon enough, and people seem eager to hear from him for the first time in months, asking where he had been, why he left, there was one asking if he had gone to milk goats in the mountains, but he ignored that last one.

 

After about a half hour of questions, he decided he was tired of all the inquiry about the past. He was ready to tell them where he was going. 

 

He looked directly at Christine, who was just sitting patiently, and simply stated, “Stark Industries is going to be focussed on technology, from this point on. I’m shutting down the weapons division.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do apologise about it taking so long to update, it's just that I don't always have time to write, and then I can't get into the mood to write. And life is going and making me a lot more depressed lately so it takes like two weeks for me to sit down and start something and then at least one more to finish it. And I have another story going on a different fandom and so I get depressed and then I read and then I think about how I haven't posted in a while and then I get more depressed and so forth. I don't like making you guys wait. I, like you, and waiting to see how this turns out and I don't know how exactly I'm going to get there.


	10. Crazy=Genius (Panic! At the Disco)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And I said (hey ay, ay)  
> If crazy equals genius (hey ay, ay)  
> If crazy equals genius  
> Then I'm a fucking arsonist (hey)  
> I'm a rocket scientist (hey hey)  
> (Hey ay, ay)  
> If crazy equals genius (hey)  
> You can set yourself on fire (hey ay)  
> But you're never gonna burn, burn, burn (hey ay)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I know that I am VERY late for this chapter. However, in my defense, I dug myself into a hole and it was very hard to work myself out of it. I didn't know how to start it and then I kinda just wrote some shit down and did that, and I'm not the happiest with the way it ended but it gets the point across. I'm not that great at writing fillers. And that is what this is, a filler.

 

After any major announcement, there will be people behind you, people against you, and people who will want you dead for what you have done. The last group is usually either big because you’re benefiting the wealthy, or small yet powerful for benefiting anybody else. It could be that you want everybody to be safe, or that you want certain people dead. Or you could be just trying to state your opinion, but someone is going to feel strongly.

 

After Tony made the announcement that he was shutting down the weapons department, he expected people to be outraged, people to be excited, and the onslaught of emails and calls from Pepper and employees asking about jobs and such. He calmly told them that nobody would lose their job unless they quit because of the change. Once that was all handled, hours and hours (and a command for JARVIS to respond automatically), Tony was looking over the design for what he was going to call the Mark I. There were many improvements he could make, from the overall sleekness to the connection to JARVIS, or lack thereof, to the worst of the design flaws. The Arc Reactor.

 

Yinsen had done his best to save him, and though he was living, Loki told him he was dying. Tony meant to examine the arc and find what he could fix, find which element was killing him slowly and, eventually, painfully. He meant to, but JARVIS told him there was a Obie in the building, and Tony thought there was no threat.

 

Oh how wrong he’d be.

 

* * *

 

 

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

 

“Calm down, Obadiah. It’s not like I’m going to bankrupt the company.”

 

“Yes you are. Stark Industries has been making weapons for decades, longer than you’ve been alive. Why would you ruin your father’s legacy like this?” Obadiah was trying to pull his heartstrings, like that would work.

 

“Who gives a shit about Howard? He’s been dead for years, haven’t you heard? He’s got his name on the SHIELD hall of fame, why do I have to give him anything?”

 

“But you shouldn’t-”

 

“Shouldn’t what? Huh? Last I checked, this was _my_ company, not yours. _Stark_ Industries, not Stane. So if you’re going to keep trying change my mind then you can just show yourself out, out of my building and out of my life. Because I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you are _only_ still here as a favor. You don’t hold any power over me, I am a grown ass man, so leave or I’m going to call the police.”

 

“You should get your mind screwed on straight before I make your life miserable.”

 

Obadiah looked like he was just about ready to start throwing punches. Tony knew how to fight, Loki had taught him to be quick and agile, but this wasn’t the type of situation you could run from, this was a fight to win, until the other person was bloody on the ground. And even though the genius could fight, he was no match for the sheer size and strength of Howard’s old friend.

 

“Tony? Are you in here?” Came a voice from the hallway. Christine appeared in the entrance to the room, clad in only one of Tony’s old nightshirts, makeup off and hair in a messy bun. “Sorry, I didn’t know you had company. You weren’t there when I woke up...”

 

All signs of hostility vanished from Obie’s face and he looked friendly as ever when he spoke. Tony filed that one in for later. “My apologies, I stole him away for a business dispute. No matter, all is well. What was your name?”

 

“Stephanie. Stephanie Greenhill.” She reached out and shook his hand, polite smile on her face, looking as earnest as anyone ever could. She deserved an oscar.

 

“Apologies for pulling Tony away, but we had some urgent business to attend to.”

 

“I’m so sorry for interrupting, I didn’t realize someone was over-”

 

“No matter, I was just on my way out. Wonderful meeting you.” Obadiah walked passed her and sent a glare to Tony as he rounded the corner, his face shifting from friendly to hostile so fast the inventor almost got whiplash.

 

 _Mister Stane has left the building._ JARVIS said with more than a hint of contempt.

 

“Good. Reduce his status to citizen. I don’t want him able to get up here.” He thought about Christine and Loki and Rhodey, plus all of his mechanical children. “I have too many things that I can’t lose here.”

 

Said reporter smiled. “So what did he want anyway?”

 

“Well, _Stephanie_ ,” Tony rolled his eyes. “He just came to yell at me about the weapons thing. Tried to threaten me and everything. Oh well, he only held the status he did because I knew him when I was younger. But, given that he looked about ready to beat me up right then, he lost that too.”

 

“What was that all about, anyway. I don’t think he would’ve gotten that mad if you had made a different kind of change. I understand the military being pissed, I would even understand if you got some lawsuits about contracts or something, but tech is the big money maker in your company, as far as I know. Speaking of military, you wanted me to remind you to get a meeting with Bruce Banner ASAP.”

 

“Thanks, and you’re right. The military pays jack shit, the only reason I kept supplying them and keeping up that business was because the soldiers need more protection. I mean, my best friend is going out there, I want him to have the best of the best. But after seeing _my name_ on the enemy’s bombs, their guns, I can’t let Rhodey be blown up or shot by something I made. That’s why I’m keeping up production of protection.”

 

“I understand all of that, really, I do. But Obadiah, he….didn’t seem right. JARVIS called me in and told me that it looked like he was about to start throwing fists. He was even getting ready to deploy a suit, considering how Stane had a glock shoved into the back of his pants.”

 

“I couldn’t even see that.”

 

“JARVIS told me before I got out here. But my point is- how could he go from ready to shoot, or at least threaten, to all charming and cheerful in a matter of seconds?”

 

“You noticed that too?”

 

“Yeah. I could hear him from down the hall, he sounded furious. Then he turns around and talks to me like you do in a press conference: almost….. flirtatious.”

 

“I know what you’re talking about. Now that I think about it, he did that a lot when I was younger. It was like he could analyze everything on the spot and pick what to say next to get what he wanted. It was the whole reason my father started mass producing weapons. I read it in his notes a while back, he had wanted to advance technology, it was Obadiah who convinced him to see Captain America through, and eventually made him obsess over it.”

 

_“Sir, Miss Everhart, I believe I can explain this phenomenon. I have downloaded a multitude psychiatric textbooks and have analyzed them all, along with all recordings of Stane’s conversations on file. And while I am not a licensed psychiatrist or psychologist, I feel informed enough to diagnose him with a psychopathic disorder.”_

 

Tony couldn’t believe it. Well he could, but he couldn’t believe that he didn’t catch on sooner. All the signs were there; lack of guilt/remorse, lack of empathy, lack of deep emotional attachments, narcissism, superficial charm, dishonesty, manipulativeness, reckless risk-taking…. He should’ve noticed sooner.

 

_“I also feel obligated to tell you, the press conference set for today starts in two hours, along with a one-on-one meeting with Bruce Banner directly after. That should be enough time to get ready, eat and get there with time to spare. And, Miss Everhart, your car was pulled into the garage last night, just in case you didn’t want to show up together.”_

 

“Thanks, JARV. I need to get there before Tony anyway. Those lines for reporters are hell. I’m just glad Pepper reserves a seat for me, and that she doesn’t hate me anymore, like back when she thought you were cheating on your man with me.”

 

“He’s not my man, Christine. He’s…..I don’t know. But he’s not my man.”

 

“He’s ruined you for anybody else.” She said as they both headed to the showers.

 

“That doesn’t mean he feels the same. All he’s ever really shown is that I was an interesting kid who he feels protective over. That’s all.”

 

“He’s continued well into adulthood, Tony.”

 

“But that’s all a blink of an eye to him. He could still think of me as the kid who was sneaking into the lab, for all I know.”

 

“He’s in love with you, you just can’t see it.” Christine said as she went into her room and the adjoining bathroom.

 

* * *

 

 

The two of them got ready, ate some toast and eggs, which was all they really had time for, and left separately. The reporter left early, wanting to get a head start on those lines and Tony just….needed a minute to himself.

  
After everything had happened, he realized he hadn’t had much time to himself. He had filled his schedule ever since Loki had left. He didn’t want to confront it, not without someone there to catch him. But Loki couldn’t be on Midgard constantly, no matter how much he hated his job at Asgard. So Tony would have to recover eventually, and he wouldn’t go down the alcoholic route so many did, not after seeing what it could do to a person.

 

No, Tony was Iron Man. He would get through it on his own terms. He wouldn’t run away from it, that wasn’t the kind of man. And when he needed help, he would ask for it. Or at least talk to Loki through the pendant, even without a response, that usually seemed to help.

 

* * *

 

 

The press conference was normal. People were angry over the whole weapons business, but Tony wasn’t going to be deterred. It wasn’t until towards the end that someone asked him his plans for the future that wasn’t tech related.

 

“So what are you going to do with the knowledge that terrorists are in possession of WMD’s?”

 

“Well, I would love to share that with you, but I wouldn’t want them to hear of my plans. Just know that I am going to make people as safe as I can. And I want to make one thing clear.” He waited for everything to be quiet. “I have nothing against people from Afghanistan, not before, not now, not in the future. My experiences with some horrible individuals don’t make me generalize, so don’t do so on my behalf either. If there are any incidences in the future that involve me and an innocent Afghani in the future, my sincerest apologies in advance. I do not consider myself a hero, so you shouldn’t expect me to be completely perfect. I feel like that is a necessary statement in this political climate.”

 

They calmed down after that, and ten minutes later, it was over and Pepper was coming to tell him about some other meeting he was supposed to come to at SI, but he couldn’t focus.

 

It was only muscle memory and a very small amount of attention he focussed on the conference that got him through it, until the end at least. He knew that Pep and Christine had seen it, based on the ways they were looking at him now.

 

* * *

 

 

Once backstage, Pepper saw him sweating, and was trying to help get his jacket off of him, but all Tony could feel was someone holding onto the back of his torn shirt, dunking him in water.

 

To top it off, the metal clipboard she was holding shocked him. He was back in Afghanistan, a battery attached to his chest. It had connected with the water. All his about returning home had been a dream.

 

He was dead.

 

He….was dead.

 

His life was flashing before his eyes, that’s what it was, he was shaking from the force of the shock.

 

Then why was he still conscious?

 

The dry heat of the cave and pain from being drowned and tortured left  as Pepper’s strawberry blonde hair came in his line of sight. He was laying on a couch, a mousy man was leaning over him and using the flashlight on his phone to check the billionaire’s dilation in his pupils.

 

“Tony? Are you okay? You kinda zoned out and curled up, then passed out for like ten seconds. You really scared me.” Pepper said.

 

“Sorry, Pep.” Then he looked at the man putting away his phone and standing. “Uhh….thanks, but who are you?”

 

The man let out a disbelieved chuckle. “Right, you haven’t seen the news recently. I’m, uh, Bruce Banner. Also, the Hulk.” The man took a step back, like he was suddenly self-conscience about everybody in the room.

 

Tony jumped off the couch. “Oh! Yes! I’ve heard about you, and recent developments have made me want to talk shop with you.” The inventor watched as the other scientist looked like he was ready to talk about his other half, or be criticized. “So I’ve read your thesis on genetic research and manipulation, and I believe that what you were testing on yourself would’ve worked very well, if your sample hadn’t been contaminated.”

 

“Sorry, what?” Obviously not used to people talking to him like he was a human, nor comfortable enough to be so conversational.

 

“Well, I looked through everything you used and the math was all right, so then I looked at where you got your materials.”

 

“I didn’t have the money to get the kind of potassium oxalate they use in hospitals, so I extracted it from vegetables I grew and tested it against a drop of human dna.”

 

“Yes. Your dna in a slide, yes? Well, that simple yet long process is what lead to your demise.”

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

“Well, I had JARVIS look into where the first episode was, and the kinds of food sources there. Now, to get enough of whatever vegetable you were using, you would need to buy it instead of grow it. Especially since you probably don’t have the funds for an entire green house for one kind of plant.”

 

“What are you getting at?”

 

“Pesticides. It was probably something you didn’t think about, but when you processed the KC2O4, it also took out things like K2CrO4, and that reacted to produce Jolly Green.”

 

“How do you know this?”

 

“I told you, I looked at the details last night.”

 

“You figured this out in a night?!”

 

“Yeah, I came up at a wall with another project and worked on this for a few hours until I woke up on my sofa.”

 

“How…?”

 

“I’m a genius. And it’s not that you’re not one, because, like I said, your thesis is brilliant. But it’s more like you probably just didn’t think of it.”

 

“Okay…. Well, I only had about half an hour until I had to get to the airport, but maybe we could meet up and talk science some more?”

 

“Oh yeah. Plus I would love to meet your other half. Something tells me he just needs a bit of love.”

 

Bruce looked shocked, like the only way he or anyone had ever thought of the other guy was as a monster, not as something with feelings.

 

“Did you need a ride to the airport?”

 

“I was going to just catch a cab…”

 

“Nonsense. Come on, I’ll give you a ride, I was heading that way anyway and I would love to talk a bit more.”

 

“Okay, Mr. Stark.”

 

“Please, I never want to be Mr. anything unless it’s sarcastic. Tony is just fine.”

 

“Alright, thanks Tony.”

 

Tony drove him back to the airport, like promised, and figured out a couple things about Bruce. Like he could semi-communicate with his other half, that he could only ever remember bits and pieces of what the Hulk did, and that, he never considered him any more than a monster. Even confessing to shooting himself to try to kill the beast, but it hadn’t worked.

 

He didn’t know it, but they would meet up again, and not too far in the future. It was the start of a friendship that would last.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Could you tell it was a filler? Probably. Anyway, I'm sorry, again for the lack of an update. I probably won't have anything up for the next couple weeks because of finals and shit, but pleeeaaasssee bear with me.


	11. High Hopes (Panic! At The Disco)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mama said  
> Fulfill the prophecy  
> Be something greater  
> Go make a legacy  
> Manifest destiny  
> Back in the days  
> We wanted everything, wanted everything

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know that it's been a little while and I'm sorry. If you didn't know, I'm writing a My Babysitter's A Vampire fic and I LOVE it. I was really focussed on it, writing like a chapter a day for four days, but I had to slow down because I kept going off in tangents. I completely recommend the horribly lovable movie and show that is MBAV. 
> 
> I am out of school for a couple months so I'll try to stockpile some more.

Christine walked through the halls of Stark Industries like he owned the place. Well, she was friends with the owner so she should, theoretically, know the layout of his business enough not need directions from an AI via an earpiece, but then not many people’s friends had multinational companies. 

 

She was sneaking into Obadiah Stane’s office, intent on getting the information he had and his excuse for going to Afghanistan recently, and she had come straight from the conference, so he shouldn’t be working at that time. While Tony had changed his clearance status, he couldn’t outright fire him or he’d get suspicious. They were just lucky that Howard’s old friend hadn’t tried to access anything that would now be out of his reach. Tony had a lot on his mind, just then. 

 

But Christine was a reporter, and while she didn’t go public with everything she knew, she always got to the bottom of every story and shared it with  _ somebody _ , usually Tony. 

 

But there was some meat on this bone, she knew it. Obadiah hadn’t gone halfway across the world, met with the people who’d kidnapped Tony,  _ while he was still captured _ , and come back just to do….whatever he’d justify the trip with. 

 

So the news anchor walked into an office that wasn’t hers with the confidence of doing what was right. JARVIS was still giving her instructions, this time on how to get passed the firewalls and encryptions that were placed on the computer. God, was she glad she took that typing class.

 

The AI was nearly finished uploading himself and downloading information, 98% complete, when Stane himself walked in. Christine saw the handle move, and quickly stepped away from the monitor (the screen turning off was JARVIS’s doing), before Obadiah walked in and saw her. 

 

“What are you doing in here?”  _ “99%” _ JARVIS said in her ear. 

 

“I thought this was Mr. Starks -Tony’s- office. I thought I might surprise him at work.”  _ Come on _ . Christine thought.  _ Why did the last percent always take so long?  _ She didn’t know how long she could stall him by playing dumb. 

 

“If you would, please get out of my office.” His tone was aggressive, not matching his words.” 

 

_ “Completed.” _ JARVIS said.  

 

Now all she had to do was get the USB out of there without Stane noticing it. She leaned over the desk, he already thought that she was a slut for sleeping with Tony (which she didn’t), but she might as well play up to it. “Could you please point me to Tony’s office?” She pouted. Hand over the drive. 

 

“Mr. Stark isn’t in today.” He said, face as impassive as a brick wall.

 

“Shame.” She stood and pulled out the drive in one smooth motion, then moved to walk out the door. Ten feet away….

 

“Stephanie, was it?” She turned, flirty response on her lips, but she could get it out before he said, “Give me the flash drive you just pulled from my computer.”

 

_ “It is alright, Miss Everhart. I am in complete control of the things he sees on his computer and if he decides to open it, he will only see the blueprints he’s already approved.” _

 

She handed it over. “What did you download onto this, Miss Greenland?”

 

“Just some blueprints.” She said, going along with the story JARVIS was making up. 

 

“Why would you need blueprints, if you’re really so close to Mr. Stark?” He asked, pulling them up on his computer. She continued to play the character she had made up, stubbornly keeping her mouth shut. “I still can and will call security and press charges.”

 

“Fine!  It was for Justin Hammer.”

 

“Planning it on selling this, yes? I should’ve known, sleeping and using that connection to bypass his joke of a security system. He doesn’t  _ do _ relationships anyway.”

 

_ Not until I finally get him his god. _ She thought to herself. 

 

“Can’t he hear us right now?”

 

“ _ It _ can’t hear anything, it’s a computer, it has no soul.” He pressed a button on his speaker. “I need security personnel in office 209 on the ninth level, we have a nonviolent intruder.”

 

“We’ll be right up, Sir.”

 

They just stood there for the minutes it took for a guard to come and escort her out. Obadiah handed the security guard the drive and told him that he’d erased the offending documents from it.

 

It wasn’t until they were in the elevator that the security man spoke. “I am Agent Phil Coulson with SHIELD, which is an organization-”

 

“I’ve probably never heard of, you like to be kept in the dark, yadda yadda. Did you guys honestly think I’d be as close to Tony as I am, and I know you guys know how close I am to Tony, without hearing about how far up your own ass Howard was? J, run a check, will you?” Phil looked like he had been expecting this, so he just waited patiently while JARVIS spoke in her ear.

 

_ “Philip Coulson, started in 1985 and is the agent who, to date, rose the fastest recorded to his current position by showing initiative and learning quickly. Current mission: gather and report information regarding Anthony Edward Stark in relevance to his ability to work with other people. Agent Coulson has had disciplinary action taken against him for not following orders so he could, quote, ‘do what’s right’, yet he still continues his minor offences and usually comes out with a better outcome than Director Fury’s best case scenario. He is the top field agent of his rank and position.” _

 

“So what do you want from me, or Tony, for that matter.” She eventually asked. 

 

“Well, my boss wants all the information you can provide about Mr. Stark.”

 

“But..?”

 

“But I am not my boss. I am here to offer a resource, one that my organization doesn’t know about and doesn’t approve of.”

 

“I’m going to need more details than that, Agent.”

 

“In the future, I am willing to be a middle man between Mr. Stark and my organization. Not a favor, I am not going to do odd jobs because I asked for something a while ago.”

 

“What are you playing at, Coulson?”

 

He smiled. “I’m afraid that’s above even my clearance, and all I have been told is that Fury is going to approach Mr. Stark soon enough, and another agent has told me I should offer this, because they have a reputation of butting heads.”

 

“And what are you reporting?”

 

“He’s elusive, an introvert who can be sociable at times. Seems to cherish the friends he has but isn’t out looking for more.”

 

Christine laughed. “Sounds about right. JARVIS, what does Tony say?”

 

_ “Sir has expressed willingness to, quote, ‘talk shop with the least worst agent’, once he has taken a shower.’ _

 

“Alright.” Christine said, getting into her car. “Hop in, I’ll take you there.”

 

“Thank you, Miss Everhart.”

 

“Ugh. Learn to call people by their first names, this isn’t your little spy training camp.” She started to back out. 

 

“Okay then. How do you think I should approach  _ Anthony _ on this subject?”

 

Christine stopped the car in the middle of the road, there were no cars coming. “Not Anthony. Never call him Anthony.”

 

“May I ask why?”

 

“Only one person is allowed to call him that. He’s Tony.” The reporter continued driving.

 

“That doesn’t really answer my question.”

 

“I’m a reporter, honey. We ask questions, we don’t answer them.”

 

* * *

_ “Sir, Miss Everhart is asking if Agent Coulson could come up and speak with you about a future arrangement.” _

 

“Sure, I’d love to talk shop with the least worst agent.”

 

_ “ETA twelve minutes.” _

 

Tony had had Happy take him back to the tower after dropping Bruce off. It had been a long afternoon, and all he wanted to do was sit down, watch some shitty daytime tv, have some takeout and go to sleep.

 

Of course, that couldn’t happen. 

 

An agent was coming over, and as the cherry on top, as soon as he walked out of the elevator, he found Loki waiting for him on the couch. And he looked furious.

 

“Loki, I can’t deal with this right now.”

 

“Can’t deal with this right now? Are you joking? I told you that you were  _ dying _ and instead of fixing that, you make more suits? Do you seriously not care about yourself enough to let yourself die?”

 

“I’m not going to die tomorrow. But I  _ can _ stop other people from dying.”

 

“You won’t be any help to anybody if you’re dead.”

 

“Well, good thing I’m not dead, then!”

 

Loki wasn’t one to get emotional easily, but the way Anthony had no regard for his own life, it made Loki get angrier faster. “But you are killing yourself, Anthony! You aren’t going to get better until you get that piece of machinery out of your chest!”

 

“Sure, take it out. Take it out, I’ll die so much faster. Oh, I have a question. Can you still have nightmares when you’re dead?”

 

“Anthony….”

 

“No. I am making a difference. I would rather stop my company from making weapons, and make it so it never can again, and deal with this little problem later.”

 

“Little problem? It is spreading! Everytime you test or use these precious suits of yours, you kill yourself a little bit more! Do you not understand that?”

 

“You say that like I am more important than any other human in the universe.”

 

“You are!”

 

“How the hell am I any different than literally any other person in the world? How can they matter more than me.”

 

“YOU MATTER MORE TO ME! YOU’RE MORE IMPORTANT THAN ANY OTHER MORTAL BECAUSE YOU WORMED THE WAY INTO THE HEART OF A GOD!” Loki took a deep breath, then continued calmly. “I know that you don’t want to hear it, but I would take on anybody in this universe if it meant your safety.”

 

Anthony couldn’t believe it. He’d known Loki had cared, but he’d thought it was something along the lines of the kid he’d tried to protect. Not anybody who held any real significance. Not someone who he actually thought about regularly. “I…. I didn’t know that.”

 

“Anthony, did you think that I would-”

 

“Hey guys!” Christine said, knowing she would be interrupting something but not wanting Phil to overhear something. 

 

The agent was walking out of the elevator behind her, face looking friendly but like he could cause trouble if he wanted.

 

Speaking of causing trouble, Loki was standing slightly in front of him, protective in every sense of the world. “And who might you be?” 

 

“Actually, he came up to consult on a future arrangement.” Tony said. 

 

“That doesn’t answer my question.” 

 

“Agent Phil Coulson.” He said, stepping forward and holding out his hand. “I take it you’re the only man that can call him Anthony?”

 

Sure enough, the automatic response came from both the genius and the god. “It’s Tony.”

 

Tony raised his eyebrow at the god, but turned back toward the room quickly. “So, what did you want to talk to me about, Agent?”

 

“Well, my boss wants to know anything and everything about you that I could possibly gather. But, I am more interested in becoming the middle man in the future.”

 

“There’s no reason to beat around the bush, Philip.”  Loki drawled.

 

“There’s a project in motion, one that I don’t know all the details of and that I believe is going to happen very soon. But I can’t be positive. And so I came here to insert myself in the program before my boss comes in and makes a fool of himself with the usual threats and such.”

 

“And what would you do for me?”

 

“Diffuse situations, vouch for you, make sure my boss isn’t an unwarranted dick to you.”

 

“Unwarranted?”

 

“Well, you don’t have a reputation for being easy to work with.”

 

“Well, I’ll give you that. What do you want from me?”

 

“Cooperation. I would act as mediator, you would listen to terms before arguing on principle.”

 

“Good luck with that.” Christine said from the fridge.

 

“I just want things to run smoothly. And I’ll face the paperwork that I can, so long as you do your part in following the orders you’re given, to an extent.”

 

“I’ll need you to clarify that little bit there.”

 

_ “Agent Coulson has been in trouble in the past for not following orders and protocol with the excuse that he had found a better way to do things. His plans have an 85% success rate and commonly lowers the death count to either none or exclusively the target or targets.” _

 

“That’s good to know. A little bit of a rule breaker, are we?” Tony asked himself. “How can I reach you with my decision?”

 

“I’m sure you’re AI can get you my number.”

 

“He could get your social security if he wanted to.”

 

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he already had it and just wasn’t telling you.” Was the agent’s quick-fire response.

 

Tony smiled. “I like you. Okay. I’ll call you by tomorrow.”

 

“Thank you for your time. And I’ll apologise in advance for whatever my boss says.” Phil said, starting to go towards the elevator but turning around before he got there. “May I put you in the report?” He asked Loki. 

 

“Do you not have a file on me already?” He asked.

 

“Actually, no. I figure that means you like your privacy.”

 

Loki smiled. “That I do. Well, I’m sure Anthony prefers you don’t use me in your little report. A mysterious man might draw more attention than a drunken bar fight.”

 

“I was just checking. I like to stay on my associate’s good sides. Have a good night.” he walked into the elevator.

 

“Well, he wasn’t lying. I can tell you that.”

 

“Really? An agent didn’t lie?”

 

“Yes. Surprising, yet not unwelcome.”

 

Christine started to heat up some leftover Chinese food in the toaster oven. “So…. you guys wanna see what I got?”

 

“Where did you go?” Tony asked, leaning over the counter.

 

“Oh, you know….Obadiah’s office to try and get some files he doesn’t want anyone to find.” 

 

“You went to  _ Stane’s office _ ? How did you even learn to get there? That floor is a maze.”

 

“I may have had a bit of help.”

 

“JARVIS, you’re grounded. No cat videos for a week.”

 

_ “Well, that hardly seems fair.” _

 

“Christine, he is dangerous. And his office is more secluded than mine.”

 

“He wouldn’t have killed me. He knows you know me, even if he thinks that we’re together. I played it off like I was stealing stuff for Hammer.”

 

“Oh come on, at least pick a rival. Why not say Apple or something?”

 

“Because I wanted to make sure I was kicked out. Coulson bailed me out anyway.”

 

“Whatever. You know that I don’t approve of this. There aren’t many things I don’t approve of, but this is one of them. Meet me in the lab to look at it, bring food.”

 

“Anthony, my mother is calling me. Father is looking for me because I escaped yet another trial.”

 

“Alright,  _ fine _ , I’ll let you go.”

 

“Please do not get killed trying to pin something on Obadiah, I’d rather you stay alive.”

 

“Yeah, yeah. You be safe too. Your dad is a grade-A dick and I don’t want you dead either.”

 

“Goodbye Christine, Anthony.”

 

“Bye Loki!” The reporter said before the god disappeared. “So what was that little cat fight about?”

 

“What? Oh, nothing. He’s just worried about me making more suits.”

 

“Riighht….well, here’s the drive. I’ll meet you in the lab in a bit.”

 

“Got it. Thanks.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so...I know it was another filler. But I PROMISE that we'll get some action by next chapter. I am honestly like so done with this arc. I have been battling myself on how to do this for a while and I am honestly happy with my plan for the next one. 
> 
> Also: COULSON IS LIKE MY FAVORITE PERSON WHO HAS EVER WORKED FOR SHIELD. AND HE'S FINALLY IN THIS FIC! He's gonna be the team mom, I can feel it

**Author's Note:**

> So....I should have another one out soon. I was really excited to write it and it will be easier to write now that I have basic personalities down. Honestly, that's the hardest part


End file.
